Motorsport: Paddon preparing to soar in Rally Finland

Pictured here in his Hyundai i20 WRC at Rally Poland, Hayden Paddon is looking forward to racing...
Pictured here in his Hyundai i20 WRC at Rally Poland, Hayden Paddon is looking forward to racing on more familiar turf when he contests his fifth Rally Finland this week. Photo by Hyundai Motorsport/Mcklein
Competing in his fifth Rally of Finland over the next four days, Hayden Paddon will literally become a flying Kiwi.

His comparative wealth of experience at this European event compared to other WRC rallies he has contested and the heart-in-the-mouth jumps the Jyväskylä region is famed for will be giving him wings.

Paddon posted a video on a social media site earlier this week joking that he spent more time in the air than on the ground during a test run.

Watching it confirmed his jest was, however, fairly accurate, as his Hyundai i20 WRC soars huge distances over the humps and bumps.

''You have to love the jumps and blind crests to do well here, and I also enjoy the fast nature of the stages - they suit me down to the ground,'' Paddon said.

After three days' recce this week, Paddon reported the stages were in the best condition he had seen them, that he was feeling confident with the pace notes he and co-driver John Kennard had written, and that he could not wait to attack the smooth, gravel roads ''full tilt''.

Finland is the third of their FIA World Rally Championship events with Hyundai Motorsport and Paddon has been able to further fine-tune his car.

''With every event, I'm certainly gelling more and more with both the car and team. We have done a good test for this event and have really focused on the suspension. The rest is about developing my driving style. It will be nice to also be back on an event I know well and I hope that will help us.''

Paddon said with pace notes and experience from previous years, he and Kennard had a good base to work with for two-thirds of the stages.

''The others are stages that are new to us but generally a Finland stage is a Finland stage - they all have similar characteristics.''

In terms of goals, he wants to continue his progression forward, measuring himself by means of seconds per kilometre to the WRC leaders and his Hyundai Motorsport team-mates.

''Everyone will be very fast here so if we can again score points and continue developing then it would be perfect.''

Rally Finland, which comprises 26 stages and 360.94km of competitive driving, runs until Sunday, .

Add a Comment