Hayden Paddon: Rally Mexico

Well we have got to the end of an eventful Rally Mexico in what can only be described as challenging.

Our event never really got going. After struggling at shakedown with some setup issues, then a spin on Thursday nights super special stage - the icing on the cake was sliding wide on Fridays second stage which resulted in broken suspension – and the end of our day. Subsequently, this meant when we rejoined on Saturday we were sweeping the road and were further hampered by brake issues in the morning and overheating issues in the afternoon. Then finally today we had a cleaner day, despite some small driving errors, that we were lucky to get away with on the final stage.

However, despite the outcome of the rally we came away feeling positive and upbeat for Rally Argentina, especially after some small improvements with my driving technique today. The long 55km stage this morning we saw these improvements with some good spilt times and this is what we will analyse with both the data and onboard footage in the coming weeks to further improve. Also, it was good to do most of the stages to learn them for the future – as nowadays in the WRC with the more sprint format, stage familiarity is vital to be able to find those last tenths of a second per km to challenge up the front.

Now we are fully focused on our next event in Argentina in 5 weeks time. This longer than normal gap means we get some time to head back to NZ and work with our partners – as well as step up the training and study programs for future events.

Despite this not being the result we wanted, it only makes me dig deeper to improve – especially when we know we can be closer to the front.

A huge thanks to the team who had there work cut out this weekend with some repair jobs, and also to everyone for their support. Look forward to keeping you posted over the coming weeks of our Rally Argentina preparation.