Motorsport: Kiwis in international class

Hayden Paddon. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Defending New Zealand rally champion Hayden Paddon is back on home soil and looking forward to the start of his Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) campaign. Hot from racing in Turkey as part of the Pirelli Star Driver competition, where he finished the best of scholarship drivers, Paddon is confident of a good showing.

Run alongside the world championship, the PWRC has nine rounds of which drivers nominate six as their scoring rounds. Paddon's choices are New Zealand, Finland, Germany, Japan, France, and Great Britain.

"I'd have to class my last outing at WRC round in New Zealand as average,"said Paddon."We ended up the first Kiwi home but ended up fourth in Production class. I was as sick as a dog in that rally having come down with a norovirus on the Monday before.

"It's the first round of our Production World Championship and we want to get maximum points. There'll be no holding back and in testing before we went to Europe the car was faster than it's ever been."

For the weekend's rally Paddon will be competing in his own Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, in which he won last year's national championship.

Two more of New Zealand's best rally drivers, Emma Gilmour and Richard Mason, have been selected by Rally New Zealand to receive special wild-card entries for the PWRC.

"We've be awarded the wild-card entry once before and have entered PWRC directly twice before," said Mason. "It's always a huge opportunity for Sara and I to run directly against the PWRC competitors."

In his previous runs in the PWRC field, Mason finished third once and second twice in Australia and New Zealand. "We're definitely aiming to go one better this year – top of the PWRC podium," said Mason.

Gilmour is currently ranked as the world's number one woman rally driver courtesy of her second place in the2009Asia Pacific Rally Championship. However Gilmour herself isn't concerned with rankings by gender – she's simply excited to be chosen by Rally New Zealand as one of the PWRC guest entries in 2010.

"It's the second time I've had this opportunity and it's fantastic to have another chance to represent New Zealand in the PWRC class,"said Gilmour.

"To be on an even playing field with global competitors, all driving Group N production cars, that's the opportunity I want to make the most of. It all helpsmy profile globally."