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New Zealand
Dominant victory for Paddon and Hudson at Daybreaker Rally
It was another dominant New Zealand Rally Championship victory for Hayden Paddon and co-driver Jared Hudson at the Daybreaker Rally over the weekend.
Piloting the Hyundai NZ i20N Rally2 car, the pair won all ten special stages to finish nearly six and a half minutes ahead of second-placed Ben Hunt. Paddon also marked up the 400th stage win in his career.
The Daybreaker event is known for its early start – Paddon was first on the road just after five o’clock to tackle the challenging gravel stages through northern Manawatu north towards Taihape. Wet conditions for the 13 and 14 September event made things tricky for all competitors with the eleventh and final super special stage cancelled due to the rain; the fourth stage was also cancelled due to stock on the road.
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Paddon said he and Hudson had a fantastic day. “It’s a rally of long challenging stages and those challenges were magnified by Saturday’s tough weather conditions, but the car and our whole team did an amazing job.
“It was great to be driving the Rally2 i20N again and it was dialled in, feeling good. As a team, we also enjoyed having Australian Brendan Reeves, with Jared’s sister Amy Hudson co-driving, bring our Hyundai AP4 home in fourth place, with the AP4 car also running faultlessly.”
Having missed the opening NZRC round in April, Paddon and Hudson have now contested three of this year’s four NZRC event. Fourth on the NZRC leader-board going into this round, Paddon has now jumped up into second place, just 18 points behind series leader Ben Hunt.
Paddon says: “While it’s great to close in on the championship lead, the focus is purely on maximising our performance each event and doing the best job we can. It’s also important for me to enjoy getting back out onto the best stages in the world.”
Paddon also paid credit to the PRG team. “This win is for the team. Both Hyundai NZ rally cars ran perfectly plus we were running other competitors’ cars and the effort and passion by every member of the team is unmatched. Thanks also the organisers, marshals and volunteers for helping to make the rally happen in trying conditions.”
Next up for Paddon and PRG is this coming weekend’s Ashley Forest Rallysprint where Paddon will drive the Hyundai Kona EV rally car as well as a mystery Hyundai rally car being unveiled to the public on Thursday 19 September in Christchurch.
Paddon Racing Group appreciates the support of Hyundai New Zealand, Mitre 10 Trade, Z Energy, Valvoline, Makita, Bars Bugs, Pirelli, OMP/Racer Products, Winmax Brake Pads, South Canterbury Road Safety, TrailLite, Repco NZ, Stedi, Highlands Motorsport Park, MITO, Machinery House, Design Windows, Bartercard, Mike Greer Homes, Provident Insurance, King Gee Clothing and Signbiz.
Keep up with Hayden Paddon’s news via the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/paddonracinggroup.
Paddon’s 2024 ERC event calendar
12-14 April – Rally Hungary (gravel)
2-4 May – Rally Islas Canarias (asphalt)
13-15 June – Royal Rally of Scandinavia, Sweden (gravel)
5-7 July – Rally Estonia (gravel)
26-28 July – Rally di Roma Capitale, Italy (asphalt)
16-18 August – Barum Czech Rally Zlín (asphalt)
30 August - 1 September – Rali Ceredigion, United Kingdom (asphalt)
11-13 October - Rally Silesia, Poland (asphalt)
Paddon’s 2024 NZRC event calendar (all gravel)