Paddon to the fore


Kiwi rally stars Hayden Paddon and John Kennard have taken a commanding win at the opening round of the 2021 New Zealand Rally Championship.

It was the fourth time the pair had won this event in a Hyundai. This time their winning margin was a huge seven minutes and 32.9 seconds, secured over two days and 298 km of competition.

While their fellow NZRC competitors struck mechanical issues across the two-day rally, Paddon and Kennard had a near perfect run to win 12 of the 14 special stages and set new stage records on 11 stages. Two punctures on Sunday afternoon prevented a clean sweep of stage wins, but Paddon was still pleased to return to competition in such strong form.

“We’re very happy; it’s awesome to come away with a win, particularly after the off-season and how busy it’s been for the team. We couldn’t ask for anything more. It was a shame we couldn’t quite get the clean sweep of stages, but two tyres delaminated on us.”

For many of the competitors it was a much awaited return to the gravel. The Covid-19 pandemic meant it was 546 days since the last NZRC event in 2019.

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