Cromwell-based Paddon and his long-serving co-driver finished 11th yesterday in their return to the World Rally Championship.
The opening round of the championship lived up to its unpredictable reputation with snow, ice slush and mud making the 17 special stages of twisty asphalt roads through the French Alps extremely challenging.
Add in the fact Paddon and Kennard were learning the Hyundai i20 Rally1 car, plus the short preparation timeframe, and it is understandable to hear Paddon say it has been one of the most mentally and physically challenging rallies of his life.
The Kiwi pair finished the first three stages in eighth place, but were caught out by worsening weather and road conditions on Sunday, slipping off SS12 into a paddock.
Fans helped them get the car back on the road, but the time delay dropped them to 13th overnight.
They came through yesterday’s final four stages to improve to 11th overall.
"We got to the finish, which was obviously the first objective," Paddon said.
"I knew it was going to be a big learning process, and the conditions made that learning process a lot harder than it should have been.
"Sometimes we had some good splits, less than a second a kilometre off the times of our team-mates, so there were a few positives, but we didn’t put it together consistently enough over the weekend.
"Honestly, I’ve dreaded coming back to this event over the last six weeks since I got the call.
"I never wanted to come back to this place, but it was obviously an amazing opportunity and I’ve loved it.
"From this, I think I can move forward now. It’s like a weight off my shoulders.
"To be fair, I probably should have come back here eight years ago. I thought I moved on but when I got told I was coming back, you know, this has been the most challenging six weeks of my life.
"But I’m a professional and I knew what my job was to do."
Paddon said the conditions were tougher than anybody expected.
"The margin for error was very small, knowing our job was to finish the rally.
"Driving was a balancing act which I struggled to get right. But it’s Monte Carlo and you’ve got to remind yourself you’re very lucky to be here."
Hyundai Motorsport will reveal which other WRC rallies Paddon and Kennard are doing with the team in due course.
The team head to Rally Sweden in the middle of February with Finnish pairing Esapekka Lappi and Enni Malkonen in the third Hyundai i20 Rally1 car.
Rising Swedish star Oliver Solberg won the Monte Carlo Rally as Toyota started the season with a one-two-three finish in the principality.
The 24-year-old son of Norway’s 2003 world champion Petter also became the youngest winner of the event in the championship era.
Welsh team-mate Elfyn Evans finished 51.8sec behind, while Sebastien Ogier, the reigning nine-time world champion and a 10-time Monte Carlo winner, was third, 1min 10sec further back.
— Allied Media
