Rally New Zealand has accepted the first official entry for this year’s World Rally Championship event in May from two-time New Zealand rally champion Hayden Paddon.
Based in Auckland, Rally New Zealand takes place from 6 to 9 May with the rally route taking in a variety of roads north and south of Auckland to create a much-loved, world-class event.
“We’re absolutely delighted to have Hayden Paddon confirm his entry for Rally New Zealand,” says Paul Mallard, general manager of Rally New Zealand. “Hayden is poised on the brink of an exciting international career this year and it’s fantastic he will be in New Zealand to contest our event as part of his global competition aspirations.”
Paddon, from Geraldine, and his Blenheim-based co-driver John Kennard will be competing in Rally New Zealand as part of Paddon’s Production World Rally Championship campaign. The 22-year-old driver contests six world rallies in this campaign, four of which overlap with the Pirelli Star Driver programme that Paddon won during a shootout at Rally Australia last year.
“It’s always a special feeling to line up for Rally New Zealand, competing in front of your home crowd,” says Paddon. “It truly is the best rally run in Australasia and it showcases New Zealand to the more than 500 million fans who watch the World Rally Championship each year.”
Paddon and Kennard were the first Kiwis home when Rally New Zealand last ran in 2008, earning themselves the Woolf Whittaker Memorial Trophy.
“Not only do we want to repeat this significant achievement of being the first New Zealanders to finish Rally New Zealand in May this year, we’re aiming for the top of the PWRC podium as well!”
