The Cromwell-based driver said it had been a rally of two halves.
Paddon and co-driver John Kennard finished seventh for Hyundai Motorsport at Rally Japan around Toyota City.
While judging tyre choice for the opening stages proved trickier than expected, the New Zealanders were determined to keep learning and improving in their third event in the Hyundai i20 Rally1 car.
“It didn’t start too well on Friday, but we were able to make some setup changes overnight and get some good improvements for Saturday and Sunday,” Paddon, who like all competitors spent Saturday trying to manage tyre wear in hot temperatures, said.
“This meant we were a lot closer to our team-mates in terms of stage times and overall results.
“In the end, to finish seventh is still a good job done. I’m not sure the rally would have ended any differently even if it had started more positively.
‘‘At the end of the day, we got the car to the finish on another rally we hadn’t done before when we’re still learning more about the car all the time. No scratches, no damage, a clean finish.
‘‘We can tick a lot of boxes in competing here, where we enjoyed running a Rally1 car on tarmac for the last time.”
Hyundai Motorsport have still not announced which of their third-car drivers will compete in the remaining 2026 WRC events.
Paddon acknowledged the rounds he and Kennard had so far contested had been three of the most challenging tarmac rallies.
“There’s no secret in that, but with each rally — Monte Carlo, Croatia and here in Japan — we’ve been trying to take the challenges in our stride and do the best we can.
‘‘We’ve kept improving, our speed’s improved with each rally and we’ve secured a couple of good results.
‘‘I think we’ve done everything that’s been asked of us. So now we look forward to the next steps.’’ — Allied Media
