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Hayden Paddon

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Hayden Paddon
Hayden Paddon at the 2015 Rally Poland
Personal information
NationalityNew Zealand New Zealander
Born (1987-04-20) 20 April 1987 (age 37)
Geraldine, New Zealand
World Rally Championship record
Active years20072019, 2022
Co-driverNew Zealand John Kennard
United Kingdom Sebastian Marshall
TeamsHyundai World Rally Team, M-Sport World Rally Team, Pirelli Star Driver
Rallies82
Championships0
Rally wins1
Podiums8
Stage wins38
Total points414
First rally2007 Rally New Zealand
First win2016 Rally Argentina
Last win2016 Rally Argentina
Last rally2022 Rally New Zealand

Hayden Paddon (born 20 April 1987) is a New Zealand rally driver. He was PWRC world champion in 2011 and won the New Zealand Rally Championship in 2008, 2009, 2013, 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023. In 2023 he became the first non-European to be crowned European Rally Champion.

Career

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Paddon driving at the 2015 Rally de Portugal.

Paddon was introduced into motorsport at an early age, his father Chris being a rally driver, beginning his career competing in karting. He competed in his first rally in 2002, at the age of 15. In 2005, he rolled and burnt his car in Rally Canterbury 2005. In 2006 he began competing in the New Zealand Rally Championship in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII, winning both the Junior and Rookie titles. In 2007 he made his World Rally Championship debut competing in the Production World Rally Championship category at his home event in New Zealand as a wildcard entry, and then in the Team Jordan entry for Rally GB. In the New Zealand championship he retained his Junior title and came within a point of winning the championship outright. In 2008 he competed in a new Mitsubishi Evo IX, winning the New Zealand title. He also finished 13th overall and fourth in PWRC on his home round of the WRC.

In 2009 he retained his New Zealand title, won the Pacific Cup, and also qualified for the Pirelli Star Driver Asia-Pacific final at the 2009 Rally Australia. Paddon was the fastest of the drivers on the opening day's stages, meaning he won the Pirelli Star Driver scholarship, giving him a fully funded programme for six events of the 2010 World Rally Championship season. Paddon's event got even better when he finished ninth overall, ahead of all of the PWRC regulars. Paddon also won a $50,000 International Rising Stars Scholarship run by Rally of New Zealand, giving him the additional funding needed to complete a full 2010 PWRC campaign in addition to the PSD events.[1]

In 2010, Paddon won the PWRC category of Rally New Zealand in his own Evo IX, finishing 14th overall. He then finished third and second in PWRC on Rally Finland and Rallye Deutschland in the Pirelli Star Driver Evo X.[2]

In 2011, Paddon contested a full PWRC season, consisting of 6 Rounds; Portugal, Argentina, Finland, Australia, Spain and GB. He competed under his newly formed team New Zealand World Rally Team and in a surprising move, Paddon switched to a Subaru for the 2011 season, as he had usually run in a Mitsubishi. Paddon drove a STR11 Subaru Impreza N4 run by Belgian Team Symtech Racing.[3] Paddon's 2011 season proved to be a breakthrough as he took 1st place in four rallies consecutively: Portugal, Argentina, Finland and Australia, where he became 2011 P-WRC Champion.

The 2012 season saw Paddon move to the S-WRC championship in a Škoda Fabia S2000. After a 4th place among the S-WRC finishers in Sweden, he took his first S-WRC win in his second rally in the car at 2012 Rally de Portugal, which saw many competitors, including Paddon, have breakdowns.

2014 saw Paddon's first stage win in the World Rally Championship during the Rally Catalunya in Spain.[4]

In 2015, Paddon took his first ever lead of a WRC event in the Rally d'Italia.[4] Paddon was the first New Zealander to lead a World Rally Championship event since Possum Bourne held the lead in the 1999 Rally New Zealand and the first one to do so outside of his country.[5] He finished second overall, behind Sébastien Ogier, after a careful performance and many stage wins.

In 2016, on the 4th round, the YPF Rally Argentina, Paddon took his - and New Zealand's - first WRC win by 13.3 seconds from Sébastien Ogier. His co-driver, John Kennard also became the oldest co-driver to win a WRC round at 57 years of age.[6] Notably and perhaps controversially he celebrated the victory with a black and silver fern flag rather than the flag of New Zealand, following the failed flag referendum held earlier in the year. His intent was to distinguish the New Zealand flag from the Australian flag, where confusions still exists, even when, at the time of the victory, he was not competing against Australian drivers or co-drivers.[citation needed]

In the first rally of 2017, the 2017 Monte Carlo Rally, Paddon crashed out on the first stage, losing control of his Hyundai. A spectator was killed in the incident having been hit by the right rear of Paddon's car.[7] Although Paddon's car was not severely damaged and could have continued, the Hyundai team withdrew Paddon from the rally as a mark of respect.[8] Prior to round 6 in Portugal, Paddon's long-time co-driver John Kennard decided to retire through injury, and he was replaced by Briton Sebastian Marshall. Overall, Paddon endured a frustrating season, picking up just two podiums in Poland and Australia. He led round 7 in Italy, until retiring late on day 2 after hitting a bank and breaking his right rear suspension.[citation needed]

In October 2020. Hayden Paddon and Hyundai New Zealand reveals one of the worlds first EV rally cars, based on the Hyundai Kona.[citation needed]

In March 2022, Hayden Paddon teamed up with Hyundai New Zealand to enter a car into WRC2. The car will be run by Hyundai New Zealand Rally, with the previously established team of engineers, technician and team management.[citation needed]

Paddon both organised and won the 2020 inaugural Ben Nevis Station Golden 1200 hillclimbing event in Central Otago, where he was driving a specially prepared Hyundai i20 called the AP4++ with a custom 2.1L turbo 4 cylinder engine making 800 hp.[9]

WRC victories

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 #  Event Season Co-driver Car
1 Argentina 36° Rally Argentina 2016 New Zealand John Kennard Hyundai i20 WRC

Results

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WRC results

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Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points
2007 Paddon Direct Green Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MON SWE NOR MEX POR ARG ITA GRE FIN GER NZL
49
NC 0
Team Jordan Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX ESP FRA JPN IRE GBR
Ret
2008 Paddon Direct Green Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX MON SWE MEX ARG JOR ITA GRE TUR FIN GER NZL
12
ESP FRA JPN GBR NC 0
2009 Hayden Paddon Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX IRE NOR CYP POR ARG ITA GRE POL FIN AUS
9
ESP GBR NC 0
2010 Pirelli Star Driver Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X SWE MEX JOR TUR
26
POR
20
BUL FIN
21
GER
19
FRA
35
ESP GBR
19
NC 0
Hayden Paddon Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX NZL
14
JPN
12
2011 New Zealand World Rally Team Subaru Impreza WRX STi SWE MEX POR
11
JOR ITA ARG
9
GRE FIN
19
GER AUS
6
FRA ESP
34
18th 10
Hayden Paddon Subaru Impreza STi R4 GBR
13
2012 Hayden Paddon Škoda Fabia S2000 MON SWE
23
MEX POR
16
ARG GRE NZL
12
FIN
Ret
GER GBR
26
FRA
Ret
ITA ESP
20
NC 0
2013 Hayden Paddon Škoda Fabia S2000 MON SWE MEX POR ARG GRE ITA FIN
11
GER
8
AUS
17
FRA GBR 18th 8
Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team Ford Fiesta RS WRC ESP
8
2014 Hyundai Motorsport N Hyundai i20 WRC MON SWE MEX POR ARG ITA
12
POL
8
FIN
8
GER AUS
6
FRA ESP
9
GBR
10
14th 19
2015 Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai i20 WRC MON SWE
5
AUS
5
GBR
5
9th 84
Hyundai Motorsport N MEX
17
ARG
16
POR
8
ITA
2
POL
4
FIN
Ret
GER
9
FRA
5
ESP
6
2016 Hyundai Motorsport N Hyundai i20 WRC MON
25
MEX
5
ARG
1
GER
5
CHN
C
FRA
6
ESP
4
GBR
4
4th 138
Hyundai Motorsport SWE
2
POR
Ret
ITA
Ret
POL
3
FIN
5
AUS
4
2017 Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC MON
Ret
SWE
7
MEX
5
FRA
6
ARG
6
POR
Ret
ITA
Ret
POL
2
FIN
Ret
GER
8
ESP GBR
8
AUS
3
8th 74
2018 Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC MON SWE
5
MEX FRA ARG POR
Ret
ITA
4
FIN
4
GER TUR
3
GBR
7
ESP AUS
2
8th 73
2019 M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC MON SWE MEX FRA ARG CHL POR ITA FIN
WD
GER TUR ESP AUS
C
NC 0
Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II GBR
38
2022 Hayden Paddon Hyundai i20 N Rally2 MON SWE CRO POR ITA KEN EST
Ret
FIN
11
BEL GRE NZL
6
ESP JPN 21st 8

* Season still in progress.

PWRC results

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Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 PWRC Points
2007 Paddon Direct Team Green Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII MON SWE ARG GRE NZL
17
JPN IRE NC 0
Team Jordan Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX GBR
Ret
2008 Paddon Direct Team Green Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX SWE ARG GRE TUR FIN NZL
4
JPN GBR 21st 5
2010 Pirelli Star Driver Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX SWE MEX JOR NZL
1
JPN
2
3rd 97
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X FIN
3
GER
2
FRA
7
GBR
3
2011 Hayden Paddon Subaru Impreza WRX STi SWE POR
1
ARG
1
FIN
1
AUS
1
ESP
8
GBR 1st 104

SWRC results

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Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 SWRC Points
2012 Hayden Paddon Škoda Fabia S2000 MON SWE
4
POR
1
NZL
1
FIN
Ret
GBR
7
FRA
Ret
ESP
5
4th 78

WRC-2 results

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Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pos. Points
2013 Hayden Paddon Škoda Fabia S2000 MON
SWE
MEX
POR
ARG
GRE
ITA
FIN
3
GER
3
AUS
5
FRA
ESP
GBR
13th 40
2022 Hayden Paddon Hyundai i20 N Rally2 MON SWE CRO POR ITA KEN EST
Ret
FIN
3
BEL GRE NZL
1
ESP JPN 10th 43

WRC-2 Pro results

[edit]
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 WDC Points
2019 M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II MON SWE MEX FRA ARG CHL POR ITA FIN GER TUR GBR
4
ESP AUS 8th 12

European Rally Championship results

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Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos. Points
2013 Symtech Racing Ford Fiesta S2000 JÄN
LIE
CAN
AZO
COR
YPR
Ret
ROM
ZLÍ
POL
CRO
SAN
VAL
62nd 5
2022 Paddon Rallysport Hyundai i20 N Rally2 AZO1
AZO2
CAN
POL
LAT
6
ITA
CZE
ESP
29th 15
2023 BRC Racing Team Hyundai i20 N Rally2 PRT
1
CAN
2
POL
2
LAT
2
SWE
2
ITA
3
CZE
Ret
HUN
1st 163
2024 BRC Racing Team Hyundai i20 N Rally2 HUN
4
CAN
6
SWE
3
EST
5
ITA
6
CZE
12
GBR
1
POL
3
1st 145

References

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  1. ^ "Hayden | Hayden Paddon". Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  2. ^ http://www.ewrc-results.com/profile.php?profile=2157
  3. ^ "News | Hayden Paddon - WRC Rally Driver". Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  4. ^ a b "Kiwi driver Paddon stuns Ogier". www.supersport.com. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  5. ^ "New Zealand's Hayden Paddon maintains slim lead in WRC Rally Italy Sardegna". stuff.co.nz. 13 June 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  6. ^ "10 things you didn't know about Hayden Paddon". New Zealand Herald. 25 April 2016. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  7. ^ Evans, David. "Spectator dies after Hayden Paddon's Monte Carlo Rally WRC crash". Autosport.com. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  8. ^ Evans, David. "Hyundai withdraws Paddon from WRC Monte Carlo after spectator death". Autosport.com. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  9. ^ Evans, David (8 March 2020). "Paddon wins first running of his own New Zealand hillclimb". DirtFish.com. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
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