News

Paddon scores another PWRC podium in Japan

Kiwi rally driver Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard finished second in the Production World Rally Championship class at Rally Japan in September.

The New Zealanders overcame two very testing days of competition to secure class wins in seven of the third day’s eight stages and finish the three-day rally in 12th position overall, just one place behind their main rival in the production category, Patrik Flodin from Sweden.

“It has been a very hard weekend, but it is great to get a strong finish and good championship points at the end of it all,” said Paddon, from Geraldine, who was contesting Rally Japan for the first time.

“I did a lot better as the event went on. The car improved a lot too. I need to pick up the pace though and try and win PWRC in France or Great Britain. I won’t be holding anything back – you can’t afford to with guys as fast as Flodin and [defending PWRC champion Armindo] Araújo around.”

Paddon still holds third position in the PWRC series, while the 25 points that Flodin earned for winning the production class in Japan have moved him ahead of Araújo on the leader-board. However Flodin has just one nominated PWRC event, Great Britain, left to run, while Paddon and Araújo are both contesting France and Great Britain. With the fourth-placed competitor over 30 points behind him, Paddon seems likely to finish the season third or better in his first attempt at the World Rally Championship feeder series.

The Japanese event ran around the Hokkaido Island city of Sapporo with the narrow, bumpy, tree-lined roads providing competitors with numerous challenges.

Paddon describes the opening day: “What a heart-stopping start! Only two kilometres into the first stage we rounded a flat 140 km/h blind corner to find a slow-moving safety vehicle travelling in the same direction as us in the middle of the road! We hadn’t been told of any accidents in the stage so it was a complete surprise... We were never going to stop in time, so we veered up the bank on the right, only to find the safety vehicle did the same. How we ever missed him and not hit a tree on the side of the road is beyond me!  We carried on, though a little rattled...

“Stage two and we continued to struggle with the car’s set-up. I couldn’t make it do anything that I wanted it to, but then one of our main rivals, [former PWRC champion] Toshi Arai crashed, so we moved up to second in PWRC behind Patrik Flodin.”

Paddon’s team made numerous changes to the car during the service break, transforming the car and giving Paddon the chance to build speed and confidence.

“The repeated afternoon stages were so rough and unlike anything I have seen so far in my rallying. The surface is very soft and sandy, with wheel ruts deeper than the car’s doorsills, so we kept bottoming out. The rough conditions broke our front suspension on stage seven, so we nursed the car through the final stages to service without inflicting further damage.”

Starting the second day two minutes behind PWRC leader Patrik Flodin, Paddon knew it was a tall order to close in and put pressure on him. So the two-time New Zealand champion aimed to consolidate his second place while also learning more about Japan’s new surface, work on the car set-up and gain further confidence.

“The day started off well, winning the first stage which the roughest stage of the day. The following two had a much harder base, so they cut up less. On the longest stage of the rally, 34 km, things were going well and our splits were good. But 12 km from the end we began to lose the brakes and a further two km later we had absolutely no brakes, front or rear. With a large gap back to the third-placed competitor, we drove slowly to the end of the stage using the gearbox as brakes. This dropped us a further one and a half minutes behind Flodin.

“Between stages John and I made emergency repairs to give us the front brakes for the last ten km stage before service. Amazingly, we were still second quickest, just five seconds off Flodin’s fastest time.

“At service we found one of many rocks littering the roads had damaged the rear brake calliper. The repeat loop of stages was rougher in places but generally in better condition than yesterday’s stages. Under trees, roads are damp and very slippery, but otherwise there was good grip. We keep learning more and more about car set-up for these conditions, and although still not perfect, it is good enough for me to gain more confidence. We won all three of the afternoon gravel stages which was a small consolation for another tough day.”

Paddon’s goal for Sunday was primarily to get to the finish while working on his speed without taking unnecessary risks. That goal was largely achieved as Paddon won seven of the day’s eight stages from Flodin.

“The day's longest stage – only 17 km – was so twisty, slippery and rough that it took almost 16 minutes to complete! We only missed out on a clean sweep of stage wins by 0.2 of a second on one run of the Sapporo Dome super special stage.”

Paddon acknowledged Flodin’s excellent drive. “Patrik never put a foot wrong, but without our suspension and brake failures on the first two days, things could have been a lot closer than our finishing margin of two minutes and 45 seconds behind him. Nevertheless, I’m happy with the result. John and I have achieved four podium finishes in our four PWRC rounds so far this season, so we are in a strong championship position going into the final two rounds.”

Paddon’s Team Green Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX took a battering on the Japanese road. “They are some of the roughest roads that I have ever driven. Our survival is due to a huge effort from our team, who did a fantastic job to keep us going. Thanks also to thank John, who again did a fantastic job. We seem to have sorted out the pace note issues we were having earlier in the year. Lastly, big thanks to both Rally New Zealand’s Rising Stars award and Cameron Sea and Airfreight for making this event possible for us, and ultimately giving us a shot at the PWRC championship.”

Paddon’s third place in the PWRC championship sees the 23-year-old Kiwi with a narrower points’ deficit to leader Flodin. “We’ll be on maximum attack to take top PWRC points in France at the beginning of October. This is another tarmac rally with the Pirelli Star Driver team. With one victory and three podiums from four starts, we are in a strong position. Now it’s a matter of lifting our game and pushing for victory – as with any championship, particularly a world championship, we have to give it a go!”

Paddon has just eight days in New Zealand before heading back to Europe for Rally France.

The Paddon RallySport team acknowledges the support of Pirelli, Ralliart Italy, EDL Fasteners, Rallytours, Castrol, Contiki Tours, Paddon, MCA Suspension, Vicarage Lane Wines, Radio Hauraki, Radio Sport, Northend Ford, In-Tune Automotive, All About Signs, Total Automotive, Resene, FMG, Raiseys Nutrition, Endless, 1Group, FMG, Steelplus, Andar the Front Store, Reaction Racing, Pope Print, Cameron Air & Seafreight and Bluebridge Ferries.