Paddon and Kennard clinch second European Rally Championship

Once again, Kiwi rally stars Hayden Paddon and John Kennard have done something no other New Zealanders have done in world motorsport by winning their second FIA European Rally Championship title in Poland on 13 October.

Their success also earned the teams’ championship title for their Italian-based team, BRC Racing Team, which has run their Hyundai i20 Rally2 car for their two ERC seasons.

The eighth and final ERC round, Rally Silesia, took place in southern Poland on asphalt over the weekend of 11 to 14 October.

Having won the previous ERC event in Wales, plus Rally Bay of Plenty back home in New Zealand, Paddon came into the ERC final with a clear goal of a top five finish. This would secure the championship title regardless of where Mathieu Franceschi, who held second on the drivers’ championship leaderboard, finished.

All started well for the Kiwis on Friday with the fourth quickest time in qualifying which means they start in P4, exactly where Paddon wanted to be for road position. They followed that up with a third quickest time around the 1.85km super special stage in Katowice on Friday evening.

For Saturday’s eight challenging stages in sunny, dry conditions, Paddon’s plan was to keep a good pace with no risk but with the car working really well, Paddon’s comfortable pace delivered five stage wins and an overnight lead of 6.8 seconds ahead of Italian driver Andrea Mabellini.

“To be leading was more than we expected,” said Paddon on Saturday evening. “Everything felt really good in the car which made our job easier, and we were able to push without taking any risks. However tomorrow will be a different story with the possibility of wet weather.”

Sunday’s action started in fine weather but with rain expected, most competitors ran a mix of tyre compounds. Rain started on SS11 and road conditions were variable, and rain continued through to the power stage on SS14.

“When the rain set in, it made things very challenging. We had a few little moments, scares and a couple of spins which was a bit of a reality check. We’re here with one goal, to win the championship so had to dial it down a bit to make sure we cruised through the last stage to get home and wrap up the championship.

“Overall, it’s been a great yet challenging weekend, to bring home the championship in such tricky conditions. It’s been a rally of two halves with dry conditions on day one when everything felt so good in the car. Then today’s challenging wet and windy conditions when we had to rein things in and keep our goal in mind.

“Obviously I’m very proud of everyone involved: everyone at BRC Racing Team, John, our team back home, to secure a second ERC title, particularly after the first half of the season when we were looking like we were on the back foot. It felt like a tall order to try and win the championship this year but we never gave up and the team dug really deep. We were able to find something in the latter part of the year that really helped us click with the car and brought us back into play for the championship.

“Overall, it’s been a very tough season mentally to make sure we got through and got all the points we could. We never stopped worked on the consistency side of things. But yes, I’m very proud. It’s more than we expected and a relief to get that over the line.”

As well as the first non-European to successfully win consecutive ERC titles, Paddon is the first successful ERC title defender since Polish driver Kajetan Kajetanowicz in 2016.

Paddon now returns home for the final round of the New Zealand Rally Championship in Whangarei in November.

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