Paddon: “gloves will be off’ against Aussies at 2025 Race Of Champions

New Zealand rally sensation Hayden Paddon says that the “gloves will be off” with national pride on the line at the 2025 Race Of Champions event at Accor Stadium in Sydney, March 7-8.

Paddon and teenage open-wheel sensation Louis Sharp will form Team New Zealand for the event which has attracted some of the biggest names of motorsport’s modern era.

“I have constantly been thinking about the Race Of Champions since I received my invitation a few months ago,” said Paddon.

“While it will be great to take on some of the biggest names in world motorsports, our first task will be to beat the Aussies. The ‘gloves will be off’.

“While our countries are so friendly and so close geographically, we have had some amazing sporting rivalries over the decades and ROC in Sydney will be no exception.

“It will certainly be no easy task with Jamie Whincup and Will Brown in Team Australia Supercars and Molly Taylor and Toby Price making up Team Australia Off-Road.

“I have been watching and learning everything I can from videos of previous events, but at the end of the day we just have to get out there and do the job.

“We have a great bunch of supporters following us across the Tasman for the event and I am sure there will be an enormous amount of Aussie-based Kiwis who will also be turning up in their All-Black colours to support us.

“Pound for Pound New Zealand is probably the best-performing motorsport country in the world and a big result for myself and Louis in Sydney would do nothing to harm that reputation.”

The Race Of Champions will run over two nights with a purpose built 1km track taking centre stage at Accor Stadium, Sydney’s Olympic Stadium. The ROC Nations Cup takes place on Friday the 7th, with drivers paired in teams based on nationality to bid for the title of ‘World’s Fastest Nation’.

The Saturday night will see the individual Race Of Champions, when all teamwork goes out of the window and it will be a battle for individual glory and the ‘Champion of Champions’ title.

While the ROC Nations Cup will include super teams like Team Germany’s Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher and Team USA’s Travis Pastrana and Kurt Busch, it is the Australian teams that Paddon has his sights on.

As the host nation, Australia is represented by two teams.

The first is Team Australia Supercars which is inclusive of seven-time Supercar champion Jamie Whincup and reigning champion Will Brown and Team Australia Off-Road which comprises rally star Molly Taylor and two-time Dakar winner, Toby Price.

Paddon won the European Rally title in 2023 and 2024 and is a seven-time Kiwi national rally champion. He also won the Production World Rally Championship in 2011.

He plans to use every bit of his dirt and tarmac ability to overcome the Australians and then anyone else he goes head-to-head with.

The Race Of Champions comes two weeks after last weekend’s 2025 Supercars opener at Sydney Motorsport Park and one week before the opening round of the F1 World Championship in Melbourne (March 13-16), creating a massive month of motorsport in Australia.

Paddon and Sharp will compete against no less than:

• 4-time Formula 1 World Champion – Sebastian Vettel
• F1 legend and two-time Australian Grand Prix winner – David Coulthard
• F1 Ace – Valtteri Bottas
• 9-time FIA World Rally Champion – Sébastien Loeb
• 7-time Supercars Champion – Jamie Whincup
• Reigning Supercars champion – Will Brown
• Extreme E champion – Molly Taylor
• 11-time X-Games Gold medalist – Travis Pastrana
• 7-time FIA World Rallycross Champion – Johan Kristoffersson
• Former F1 driver and current WEC driver – Mick Schumacher
• Father and son rally champions Petter and Oliver Solberg
• 2-time Dakar winner – Toby Price
• NASCAR champion – Kurt Busch
• Four-time ROC Champion – Mattias Ekström
• F1 winner & ROC Champion Heikki Kovalainen