Motorsport: Paddon continues to fire

Hayden Paddon. Photo / Supplied

Hayden Paddon is New Zealand's first-ever world rally champion, but there's no let-up for the 24-year-old as he heads to Rally de Espana which runs from 20 to 23 October.

The Geraldine-based world champion still has much to prove on the tarmac and gravel mixed surface of the Spanish World Rally Championship event as he strives to further his international rallying career.

"John [Kennard, Paddon's Blenheim-based co-driver] and I haven't contested Rally Spain before, which is our second-to-last WRC event for this season. I was a spectator there last year and know the tarmac stages are more like a series of race tracks,'' Paddon said.

"In fact, this event is unique in that we run one day on a mix of gravel and tarmac and two days on all tarmac stages, so that's challenging in terms of my driving style and what our team, Symtech Racing, needs to do in setting up our Subaru rally car.''

Paddon said he's done no competitive time on tarmac stages since Rally France 12 months ago.

After winning the Production World Rally Championship title in Australia in September, Paddon headed back to Europe for September 29 to October 2 for the running of Rally France where he was helped American star Ken Block with his stage notes.

"It was great to be involved with Ken's world rally team for a short time and I really enjoyed it. It was also great to further familiarise ourselves with the French roads _ excellent for next year - and I also learned a lot about the notes that only WRC teams receive for tarmac events which highlight how the roads change between each pass. This knowledge will certainly help John and me heading into Spain.''

Paddon says he's still going all out to win again in Spain after winning the PWRC class of all four events he's contested this year, a history-making feat which secured the Kiwi the PWRC title with two rounds in-hand.

"We will try and win, but there are plenty of unknowns around what our fellow production category competitors are like on tarmac. This is the only tarmac event on the PWRC calendar this year, and along with the usual quick contenders like Patrik Flodin, Martin Semerd and Michal Kosciuszko, there are some fast Spanish drivers. However, our pace was good on tarmac in France and Germany last year so we will push hard to improve on that.''

In Spain, Paddon and Kennard complete reconnaissance of the rally stages on Tuesday and Wednesday before Thursday's full-speed official shakedown run. In the rally itself, they tackle 18 special stages over a competitive distance of 406.52 kilometres inland of Salou, comprising six stages on each of the three days from Friday to Sunday.

As well as counting as the 12th round of the 13-event WRC season, RallyRACC-Rally de Espana is the final event of the Super 2000 World Rally Championship and the penultimate round of the Production Car World Rally Championship.

2011 FIA Production Car World Rally Championship (For Drivers)
After Round 4
1, Hayden Paddon (NZL) Subaru Impreza _ 100 points
2, Martin Semerd (CZE) Mitsubishi Lancer _ 50
3, Valeriy Gorban (UKR) Mitsubishi Lancer _ 38
4, Michal Kosciuszko (POL) Mitsubishi Lancer _ 35
5, Patrik Flodin (SWE) Subaru Impreza _ 34