Paddon heads to Rome aiming for championship gains

As the defending FIA European Rally Champion, Kiwi rally star Hayden Paddon heads to Rally di Roma Capitale in Italy this week with a clear goal: to protect and, ideally, extend his lead in this year’s championship.

Paddon took the 2024 ERC lead at the previous ERC round in Estonia earlier this month and now has 73 points, just ten points ahead of second-placed Frenchman Mattieu Franchesci while Norway’s Mads Ostberg holds third place with 53 points going into this Italian event.

Acknowledging his main championship rivals, Paddon says: “Both Mathieu and Mads will be fast, especially Mathieu who has made a big step up this year. In terms of overall rally results, we know the local Italian ERC drivers are very fast as they were last year, but our focus will be on our main rivals for championship points.

“We would love to repeat last year’s podium result in Rome but we have seen how competitive the field is this year. It’s definitely going to be a challenge this weekend but extending our championship lead is the key goal.”

Paddon and his experienced co-driver John Kennard are the number one seeds for the 26 to 29 July running of the high speed asphalt rally which is the fifth of eight rounds of this year’s ERC.

The pair join their BRC Racing teammates to conduct a short pre-event test with the Hyundai i20 Rally 2 car early this week. “We will utilise last year’s data from this rally alongside what we learnt from Canaries Rally this year to try and find some better settings for the car in these conditions. We need to keep working hard trying to find more performance as other teams and cars are getting faster.”

The rally gets underway on Friday evening with an opening super special stage near Rome’s famed Colosseum, then they tackle 189km of special stages around the rally base in Fiuggi, a thermal spa town southeast of Rome.

Most of the stages are the same as last year. Paddon describes the stages as mostly flowing, and slightly bumpy in places. “I enjoy the stages. What makes it unique here, as it was last year, is the weather. We are expecting very hot temps, up to 40 degrees air temp, which makes it one of the hottest rallies we do and looking after tyres in such conditions becomes key.”

Paddon Racing Group appreciates the support of Hyundai New Zealand, Mitre 10 Trade, Z Energy, Valvoline, Makita, Bars Bugs, Pirelli, OMP/Racer Products, Winmax Brake Pads, South Canterbury Road Safety, TrailLite, Repco NZ, Stedi, Highlands Motorsport Park, MITO, Machinery House, Design Windows, Bartercard, Mike Greer Homes, Provident Insurance, King Gee Clothing and Signbiz.

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