Paddon and Kennard take hard-fought rally win at Western Australia

New Zealand rally stars Hayden Paddon and John Kennard overcame intense competition and muddy conditions to win the Forest Rally, 23 to 25 May, in Western Australia.

This second round of the 2025 EROAD Australian Rally Championship was run as two single day events, like the first round in Canberra. The Kiwi stars worked hard to secure the maximum available 50 points each day and take out the rally win in their Hyundai i20 Rally 2 car.

Paddon is now third on the ARC drivers’ points-table behind Lewis Bates and Scott Pedder after two of the six championship rounds.

Seeded fourth on the road for Saturday’s heat one, Paddon and Kennard were amongst the top-runners from the outset as expected but the competition was hot with 2020 FIA Junior World Rally Champion Tom Kristensson winning the first stage, three-time ARC champ Harry Bates taking the second, and Paddon the third. A lot of rain made conditions very slippery in places, but high grip in others, and nothing like the iconic loose, ball-bearing surface typical of this rally run in the forests near Nannup, south of Perth near Margaret River. Into the afternoon loop, Rally of Canberra winner Scott Pedder took the fourth stage win, then Paddon and Kennard were able to wrap up the day to their satisfaction by winning the last two stages with a margin of 12.3 seconds over Pedder, and secure maximum points for heat one.

Sunday morning’s loop of three stages were very wet and muddy, but Paddon says drying conditions in the afternoon suited them and the car better. Four different stage winners – Kristensson, Pedder, Harry Bates and Paddon – throughout the day highlighted the intense competition with Paddon ultimately the day’s victor by a margin of just 5.4 seconds over Bates.

Paddon was delighted to take the rally win and maximum points for the team. “It was a really good weekend and we’re really happy to come away with the win on both days. It was more than we expected especially as the conditions were very challenging. Conditions with rain on both Saturday and Sunday made the first pass very slippery and probably didn’t work to our strengths with the car, but on the afternoon loops we were able to bring it back in some very close battles with Scott yesterday and Harry today. We had to really dig deep to try and get the result. To get the win in that fashion is very satisfying. It’s been a huge effort from everyone in the PRG team being over here for the week. It’s great to get our bid to win our first Australian championship back on track with our next challenge taking place at Rally Queensland near Gympie next month.”

Kiwi fans can follow Paddon and Kennard during all six ARC events thanks to the championship organisers providing a mix of on-stage action, interviews and analysis via live streams broadcast on the ARC’s Facebook and YouTube channels.

PRG appreciates the support of their partners including Hyundai New Zealand, Caltex Havoline Oil, Mitre 10 Trade, Winmax Brake Pads, Bar’s Bugs, EROAD, Ben Nevis Station, Wipertech, Design Windows, MITO, Repco, Machinery House, King Gee, KiwiFibre, TrialLite, Hankook, Z Energy, Blaster and Signbiz.

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