Hayden Paddon

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 and 2021.

Hayden Paddon
Hayden Paddon at the 2015 Rally Poland
Personal information
NationalityNew Zealand New Zealander
Born (1987-04-20) 20 April 1987
Geraldine, New Zealand
World Rally Championship record
Active years2007–2019, 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

Career
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.

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.

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

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.

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

Results

WRC results
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
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
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
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
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
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
 CZE
 HUN
 1st 142

References
  1. "Hayden | Hayden Paddon". Archived from the original on 2013-12-04. Retrieved 2011-07-11.
  2. http://www.ewrc-results.com/profile.php?profile=2157
  3. "News | Hayden Paddon - WRC Rally Driver". Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2011-01-23.
  4. "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. 2016-04-25. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  7. Evans, David. "Spectator dies after Hayden Paddon's Monte Carlo Rally WRC crash". Autosport.com. Retrieved 2017-01-20.
  8. Evans, David. "Hyundai withdraws Paddon from WRC Monte Carlo after spectator death". Autosport.com. Retrieved 2017-01-20.
  9. Evans, David (8 March 2020). "Paddon wins first running of his own New Zealand hillclimb". DirtFish.com. Retrieved 2021-02-21.
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