Paddon and co-driver John Kennard — who celebrated 100 rallies together earlier this month at the WRC’s Spanish round — head into the penultimate 2016 FIA World Rally Championship event this weekend in fourth position in their respective drivers’ and co-drivers’ championships.
As Rally Wales and the Australian final (November 17-20) are being run on the gravel surface that Paddon favours, they could still secure second place in the standings behind Sebastien Ogier who has already won the 2016 championship title.
The New Zealanders are more familiar with the United Kingdom and Australian events than many others, having competed in Wales five times previously and four times in Australia.
Despite his experience on the often wet and muddy Welsh stages, Paddon is yet to get the monkey off his back here.
"This is a rally I have always enjoyed, but we have never been able to put together a good result here, something we would definitely like to change this year," Paddon said.
Not in his favour is that the organisers say this year’s route is the longest and most challenging since the event moved from Cardiff to its current base in Deeside, in the north of the country, in 2013.
The 22-stage rally will be run over a total of 332.87km with a huge 962.87km of touring stages, during which competitors will travel south from the Deeside service park on the northern coast to stages in the middle of Wales and back each day.
"Not only do we have to be fast in Wales, but we must also look after the car as there is no mid-leg service on any of the three days, just a tyre regroup," Paddon said.
On the plus side, the forestry stages in Wales have a certain familiarity for him.
"It reminds me a lot of some of the forestry roads we get in New Zealand. Traditionally it’s always a wet, muddy rally, but this year — being run a little earlier than usual — could be a little different."
The long-range forecast for the three-day rally is for warmer and drier weather than usual. However, the unpredictable early winter British weather will almost certainly play a part and soft compound tyres will be needed if conditions become cold and wet. A recent test has left Paddon feeling "in a good place, with this year’s car on gravel now".
"It’s just a pity we couldn’t show that at the last event in Spain during Friday’s gravel stages, due to technical issues," Paddon said.
Anti-lag system problems meant they could nott achieve the pace they expected on that day’s predominantly gravel stages. He and Kennard still finished with their best result to date in a tarmac rally, securing fourth place.
The Welsh rally begins tonight NZ time with an itinerary that takes in more than half of the total distance, with 178km of gravel stages. Stage names such as Hafren and Sweet Lamb are familiar to rally aficionados, but they will be run in reverse direction this year.
Some stages during the second day have not been included since 1997.
