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Hayden Paddon reveals his thoughts on this weekend’s Coates Hire Rally Australia and how he has unlocked personal performance gains in an all-encompassing interview with Speedcafe.com’s Gordon Lomas.
Factory Hyundai star Paddon and co-driver John Kennard will be pitched into the main squad as the Korean manufacturer tries to maximise its standing as second in the points race behind the tearaway Volkswagen.
Normally running in the satellite #20 i20, Paddon moves into the #8 beside Hyundai spearhead Thierry Neuville with Spaniard Dani Sordo switching to Paddon’s usual ride for the Coffs Harbour WRC round.
Hyundai has accumulated 161 points, behind the dominant Volkswagen on 300 but lurking precariously at close quarters in third is Citroen on 148.
Speedcafe.com caught up with Paddon as he juggles his rigorous fitness regimen with sponsor and PR commitments back in his native New Zealand ahead of Coffs Harbour.
SPEEDCAFE: It’s been an overall solid year for you and co-driver John Kennard. Do you feel you’ve taken a step up this season?
HAYDEN PADDON: I think we’ve definitely taken a step forward. It was always the plan to be a lot more competitive this year.
If you are not moving forward and showing progress then you are basically going backwards.
We’ve had our good and bad rallies. It hasn’t been all plain sailing.
I think we’ve shown enough on two or three events to show what our intent is and what we are capable of.
SPEEDCAFE: As you say there’s been ups and downs which is pretty much the DNA of rallying I guess. With the good and bad rallies how does that affect your mental preparation?
PADDON: Not so much. At the start of the year Sweden was an okay result (fifth) but we weren’t very happy with the performance.
Then we went into Mexico (non-finish) and Argentina (16th after a mishap where he slewed into six spectators after being caught offline after a jump) which was not very good for us.
By the time we got back to Europe (Portugal in May) we were confident things would go better but there was pressure to perform.
I’ve never had two bad events in a row so it did play a little bit on the mind.
But once you got a finish under the belt like we did in Portugal (8th) the pressure is gone and it starts to free things up a little bit.
SPEEDCAFE: Then to catch that second placing in Sardinia at the next rally in June, albeit at the expense of some front-runners, you must have felt on top of the world?
PADDON: Yeah it was unexpected. It is the one gravel event that I was probably least looking forward to from the character of the road and from our experience there the previous year (12th).
But it was one of those events where everything fell into place. It felt very easy and we didn’t really have to chase anything, we were just doing our own thing.
We were a bit lucky with the problems we had so finishing second was a dream come true.
SPEEDCAFE: You’ve been pitched into the main squad for Rally Australia, do you feel any extra pressure or responsibility there?
PADDON: No not at all. It really doesn’t make any difference if we are in the #8 or the #20 car.
The goal is to try and be near the front and try and get on the podium.
It doesn’t change anything. The only thing it changes is if we can achieve it then it is great manufacturer points for the team.
SPEEDCAFE: Obviously you are now well versed on the stages at Coffs given that there are some modifications this year. So you must feel a lot more confident?
PADDON: Yeah. A lot of people in Europe like to think that Rally Australia is my home rally and we know the roads but we’ve really only done the same as anybody else.
The key thing is that we do have the same amount of experience as everybody else whereas in Europe we are still maybe a little bit behind. That’s one thing in our favour.
And the new stages on Friday tend to be a lot more public road type stages which is what I enjoy. I think they will suit us a lot better.
SPEEDCAFE: How are things tracking with staying in the same seat next year?
PADDON: Things are positive for next year to still remain in the WRC. We still need to work on things so it’s in progress.
It’s too early to go into specifics. Season by season we naturally want to be building the thing so we want to keep moving forward.
John (Kennard) will stay on and he’s as enthusiastic and motivated as ever.
SPEEDCAFE: Speaking of John, do you feel like you’ve developed more as a crew with continually looking at ways to tweak your pacenotes and generally gelling together in the top WRC class?
PADDON: I think we’ve gelled together in the 10 years we’ve been together.
For sure we’ve always been trying to develop our pacenote system and that hasn’t changed for many years. Every rally we go to there is something small that we are changing or trying to develop.
I think the biggest thing this year has been in my understanding of the way that I’m driving the car and the way to get the most out of the car.
I’ve learned a lot in the last 12 months. Even just being in a manufacturer team environment with team-mates where you can be overlaying data, that just helps the learning process 10-fold.
The team is also right behind us in trying to help us develop as quickly as possible.
SPEEDCAFE: New Zealand has dropped off the radar in terms of staging a WRC round, do you know if there are efforts to put your home country back on the world rally map in terms of hosting a round in the future?
PADDON: We definitely want New Zealand back on the WRC stage. Obviously its not on the cards for 2016 but 2017 is what we are trying for now.
I think 99 percent of people want Rally New Zealand back from drivers to the media and I think a lot of Australians want it back.
It’s a political situation now with the team managers and the promoters.
Their argument is that there is not a car market here (New Zealand) but my argument is that with the promotion and the media in the world championship these days, a hosting country is literally a backdrop to the sport.
And people will follow it no matter where in the world that it is and New Zealand has got a pretty spectacular backdrop and also some of the best roads in the world.
Everything is in place to make it happen from this end. There’s money there, there’s sponsors, there’s an organising crew and I think there is almost a route and a base sorted as well.
It really just needs someone in the FIA or someone within the promoter’s to say ‘yep, make it happen.’
SPEEDCAFE.COM: The new regs for 2017 will see more horsepower and more aggressive body kits, in a Group B-style revamp. What are your thoughts on that direction?
PADDON: I’ve just seen what’s been in the media. It looks cool. Drivers always want to be going faster so an extra 80bhp will go down quite nicely.
All the aero will make the cars look a bit more aggressive and I think it will create a bit more spectacle for the fans.
Personally I’m a big fan of electronic centre diffs (to return with the new 2017 regs) because it gives the cars more adjustability and being able to be more personalised for each driver. That’s an area I quite enjoy working in.
But at the same time a lot of people seem to think that will make the cars less spectacular but that’s not the case at all.
With the extra speed the cars are going to be more sideways. They will be louder, faster and look better so its good for the sport.
