Paddon and co-driver John Kennard yesterday became the first non-Europeans and first New Zealanders to win the FIA European Rally Championship.
The pair secured the 2023 ERC title at the championship’s seventh round in the Czech Republic, but not without drama after an incident in their Hyundai i20 Rally 2 car run by BRC Racing.
Despite collecting a tree on the ninth stage and having to retire from the event, Paddon was able to win the title with one round to go thanks to the 55-point championship lead he had over second-placed Martin Sesks, from Latvia.
ERC regulations state competitors must drop their worst result for the final calculation of championship points.
Paddon’s retirement made it the result to drop, and put the onus on Sesks to earn at least 20 points to stay in with a chance for the title at October’s final ERC round in Hungary.
In the end, Sesks’ final position of 12th was not enough to prevent Paddon adding the European Rally Championship title to his achievements as New Zealand’s most successful rally driver.
"It wasn’t quite how we planned to secure the title," Paddon said.
"But in terms of championship wins, this is our biggest achievement so far.
"It’s a season’s worth of work, not just one rally, here in Europe and back at home with both teams and for John and me.
"We’re proud to bring this one home and it’s the result of six really good ERC rallies in a row. That put us in a good position to have a bad round, so all in all, looking at the season as a whole, we can be proud of the results."
From the outset, Paddon and Kennard drove conservatively, knowing they had to manage any risk to their championship lead while competing in the fast, twisty and bumpy tarmac rally for the first time.
Paddon said the rally was always going to be tough, being his first time on the roads around host city Zlin and up against highly experienced locals like Jan Kopecky, who won the rally by 23.4sec.
The New Zealanders came through Saturday morning’s three stages in eighth place overall, and improved to fifth after the afternoon stages, just 42.8sec off rally leader Kopecky.
A strong run in Sunday’s opener moved them to fourth overall but contact with a tree ripped a wheel off the Hyundai and forced Paddon’s retirement from the rally.
Paddon paid tribute to BRC Racing and his long-serving co-driver.
Kennard, who has spent 18 years beside Paddon, ranked the ERC title highly though naturally not quite on a par with their WRC win in Argentina in 2016.
"This rally is a special rally," Kennard said.
"It’s extremely challenging for everybody. The roads are bumpy, narrow, sometimes with gravel across the tarmac surface and sometimes muddy from damp conditions — it’s completely different to anything else we do."
Paddon now returns to New Zealand for a busy two months including the fourth round of the New Zealand Rally Championship in the Manawatu, the Ashley Forest Rallysprint, and the Waimate Horsepower Hillclimb.
— Staff reporter
