Hayden Paddon: Win at Rally Wairarapa

So we achieved our objectives today by winning the New Zealand Rally Championship and todays final round of the Championship – Rally Wairarapa. We are all happy but it was not an easy day.

Last night we got last pick of road position, so naturally we were put number 1 on the road. This was a huge disadvantage with the amount of dry gravel that was on the stages, but to counter this there was also some hanging dust in the still morning conditions. We were able to make the most of this and pull out an early 20 second lead.

We were then able to control the lead for the rest of the day despite having very little grip and sliding all over the show. To keep things interesting our front diff broke, with 2 stages before service. Luckily we managed to keep the time loss to a minimum and keep our lead in tack. The team then did a great job changing the front diff in 30 minutes at service, which ultimately got us to the end of the rally.

It is great to win our third NZ title and this one is especially a huge credit to our team who have done an amazing job all year – right from the rebuild to keeping the car going throughout the year. Also to see our green Stadium Cars Evo 9 still competitive with not so many modifications that are allowed in the championship is pleasing.

A huge thanks to our team, sponsors and supporters. Dad, John, Math, Neil, AD, Coxy and Piran all did a fantastic job as did Katie with the regular updates and media material that you all see. Also a huge thanks to Mike and Sue from Reaction Racing for their continued support and Kerrie and Lance who made the trip from the UK to be here. There are too many people to thank, but THANK YOU everyone.

This is a great confidence booster as we now prepare for Spain and one of the biggest opportunities we have had to date. This will start with intensive homework of the event tomorrow, training and some testing with M-sport. We leave in 1-weeks time.

Thanks again and will keep you posted in our build up to Rally Spain.