Podium for Paddon at Ypres Rally before Queensland challenge

New Zealand rally driver Hayden Paddon, with Christchurch’s Jared Hudson in the co-driver’s seat, took a hard-fought second place at the Ypres Rally in Belgium, which took place 27 and 28 June. The Kiwis become the first non-Europeans to ever stand on the Ypres podium.

The Kiwis competed in the famed Ypres all-tarmac event in a Hyundai i20N Rally2 car prepared by last year’s Belgian Champions, BMA. This year’s Ypres Rally attracted a raft of international stars such as Dani Sordo, Jos Verstappen, Freddy Loix and last year’s rally winner Stéphane Lefebvre.

It was all on from the outset with milliseconds separating the frontrunners at times. Paddon and Hudson won Friday’s second stage, putting them into the overall lead. Despite intense challenges from Sordo and Lefebvre, the Kiwis’ consistency at delivering top three stage times throughout all of the day’s eight stages, kept them in the lead by day’s end.

On Saturday, with 10 stages to tackle, Lefebvre chipped away at Paddon’s lead to top the standings by special stage three. Paddon and Hudson kept the pressure on and were stoked to finish on the podium, just 10.3 seconds behind Lefebvre.

“We were very happy to come away with second in Ypres rally,” says Paddon. “We always knew it was going to be tough challenge this weekend being up against very fast locals and previous winners. Our goal was to try and get a podium finish, so we’re pleased to have done that. To be fighting for victory was probably more than we expected, particularly to be leading the rally for half of it. We put up a good fight and tried everything we could, just didn’t quite have enough at the end but, still, to be only 10 seconds shy of the winners was a good weekend for the team and car. It’s fair to say now we have unfinished business here, a bit like Ireland as well…”

Now Paddon returns down-under for Rally Queensland which takes place 4 to 6 July near Gympie, north of Brisbane. Paddon and longtime co-driver John Kennard now resume their bid to win their first Australian Rally Championship (ARC) titles.

“The podium in Ypres is a good way to get a bit of momentum for Australia,” says Paddon. “It’s certainly going to be nice to be back on the gravel for the third round of the Australian Championship and back working with our PRG team and our Hyundai i20 Rally 2 car.

“Like the first two ARC rounds, Queensland is another new event for us. We’ve got some good momentum off the back of winning the previous round in Perth, but it’s going to be challenging. What we’ll be facing in terms of road conditions will be influenced by the ballot draw between the top three seeded drivers, which includes me, Harry Bates and Scott Pedder.”

Paddon’s goal is to get some strong points on the board. “We’re moving into the consolidation phase of the championship now where we need to make sure that we’re picking up points here – where we can earn points from each of the two days – ahead of the endurance rounds later in the season. I’m definitely looking forward to Queensland and being back working with our own team again.”

The Kiwis each lead their respective drivers’/co-drivers’ championship points tables. Paddon has 160 points after two rounds, seven points ahead of second-placed Lewis Bates. Kennard also has 160 points ahead of Bates’ co-driver Anthony McLoughlin.

The Queensland Rally is the third round of the six round 2025 Australian Rally Championship, and comprises 14 special stages and approximately 193 competitive kilometres. Crews complete reconnaissance of the special stages on Thursday and Friday, before Friday evening’s public rally show in downtime Gympie. Saturday’s action starts around 8.30am and the podium celebrations are planned for around 4.30pm Sunday.
Keep up with all the action as Hayden Paddon competes in Ireland, Belgium and Australia over the next month via the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/paddonracinggroup.

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