New Zealander Hayden Paddon knows he will have to counter local knowledge as he looks to wrap up the production world rally championship (PWRC) in Australia.
The South Canterbury driver, unbeaten on the circuit this year, heads across the Tasman on Saturday to prepare for Rally Australia, which will be based at the coastal New South Wales city of Coffs Harbour.
If Paddon, 24, gets his Subaru Impreza across the line first in what is a new venue for the rally, it will mean he cannot get caught on the points table with two rounds to go.
Despite winning his three other PWRC events this year -- in Portugal, Argentina and Finland -- he has his feet on the ground when assessing his chances in Australia.
"You can never be too confident," he said today.
"We've got a couple of the normal fast guys from overseas, but the local competition will be the toughest. It's a brand new event and we know the locals there know the roads."
Paddon said he and Marlborough co-driver John Kennard weren't too familiar with the conditions, but the special stages would be on his favoured gravel surface.
"Some parts are like New Zealand and some parts are in the forest," he said.
"But other that, we'll find out next week."
After finishing third overall in his first appearance on the PWRC last year, Paddon had targeted taking the title before the start of this season.
But he was surprised at how well his results had been so far.
"I definitely believed we could win the championship, but I wouldn't have thought we'd go out and win our first three rounds," he said.
"We always thought the first two would be bogey rounds, ones we weren't familiar with or didn't suit us as much, and Finland is obviously a very specialist event. From here on in was what we were targeting as our good events."
For Paddon, there were a mix of reasons for why he and Kennard had been able to put themselves at the head of field.
They included consistency of performance so they didn't have to push their car too much at the business end of events and the ability to pressure on the opposition.
"Portugal and Finland are two that stick in the mind," he said.
"It was very close and we were able to put the pressure on, and they made mistakes while we were able to hold it together."
Whereas Paddon has been driving an overseas-based car up till now, he will have his New Zealand-based vehicle with him in Australia.
"Probably the biggest difference between them is that one is left-hand drive and one is right-hand drive," he said.
"Other than that, they are pretty similar. We're pretty familiar with both. As long as it's got four wheels and a steering wheel, I'm happy."
To keep costs down, Paddon will also have his New Zealand crew with him next week, rather than his European-based team.
