Motorsport: Paddon secures international S2000 drive

Hayden Paddon's Skoda Fabia S2000 car for the 2012 rally season. Photo / Supplied

Kiwi rally high-flyer Hayden Paddon will compete in the FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship next year in a fully-backed Skoda Fabia 2000.

The Geraldine gravel maestro and long-time co-driver John Kennard stunned the international rallying world this year with a near-faultless performance in the Production World Rally Championship.

With three rounds up his sleeve, Paddon won the PWRC, becoming the only New Zealander to win a full international rally championship in his Subaru Impreza.

The S2000 series is another rung up the rallying ladder from the PWRC, and is considered the feeder series to the main world championship.

The Skoda will be run by Barcelona-based ASM Motorsport, and Paddon will be moving to Spain with his long-time partner Katie.

"I am ecstatic about the move to Super 2000; it's a fantastic opportunity," says the 24-year-old.

"I was lucky enough to test the Skoda Fabia S2000 in Europe a couple of months ago and it was an incredible car to drive. The S2000 is a full blown racecar and is basically a WRC car without the aero and turbo."

Skoda's parent company Volkswagen has already confirmed its entry into the full WRC in 2013 - which bodes well for Paddon, who could potentially make the jump into the World Rally Championship and become the first Kiwi to have a full entry at the very top end of rallying.

"Several key personnel at ASM Motorsport have been involved with the Skoda and Seat world rally teams in the past and they are very enthusiastic and passionate about this project. The target for the whole team is to win the championship," says Paddon.

He drove the new car recently in Austria, and is fizzing at the opportunity to turn a wheel in anger next season.

"It is a cool car," he told nzherald.co.nz, obviously bursting with enthusiasm.

"Where the Subaru was basically a production car, this is a full race car. It's got more power and proper suspension geometry - just a great car to drive."

The Fabia shares the same underpinnings as the Volkswagen Polo WRC, and will likely give him a good grounding before getting into one of the force-fed, top-end rally cars.

There may be a chance for Paddon to pedal the WRCar next season, with the German tarmac event a contender for a single-round drive without interrupting his SWRC program.

The move from Geraldine to Barcelona will be a massive lifestyle change for Paddon - "I don't speak Spanish and I don't know if I even like Spanish food - it'll be interesting," he said.

Paddon's obvious goal is to win the SWRC title in 2012. SWRC competitors are required to contest seven of eight selected World Rally Championship events.

Paddon has elected to drive the S2000 Skoda in Rally Sweden, Rally Portugal, Rally New Zealand, Rally Finland, Wales Rally GB, Rally France and Rally Spain, dropping the year's first SWRC event, Rally Monte Carlo.

"With Monte Carlo taking place in January, we have given ourselves a little more time to prepare for the next SWRC event, Sweden, which runs from 10 to 12 February," he says. "It is also going to be special to have the chance to do Rally New Zealand as one of our rounds and bring our new car home for our supporters to see."

While Monte Carlo is an iconic and historic event, he isn't heartbroken about missing it - and even plans on doing some ice and tarmac pacenoting for another driver.

"Icy tarmac on slick tyres doesn't really excite me," he said, "but I'll have to do it at some stage."

Also driving for Volkswagen Group, in the same class is French rally star and former Citroen driver Seastian Ogier.

"Sebastién is one of the fastest drivers in the WRC at present and having the chance to compete with him will be an honour and also a challenge," says Paddon. "It will help us to lift to another level and while he will be hard to beat, he certainly gives us a good target to aim for."

With the new drive comes a new relationship with the Giltrap Group, run by long-time motorsport supporter Colin Giltrap, as well as a host of local sponsorship.

"It's a great honour to have a new partnership with the Giltrap Group, largely thanks to Colin and Richard Giltrap, who are huge supporters of New Zealand motorsport. The Giltrap Group is also the distributor for Skoda in New Zealand, so there's a natural link with this new partnership."

His campaign will be supported by the Giltrap Group, PlaceMakers, Skoda, Cameron Sea and Airfrieght, All About Signs, Granger Design, HTC Sportsworld, Castrol, Raiseys, New Balance and Chicane Racewear.

This is a big move for the young driver, who says it was a tough decision moving away from Subaru, especially after the PWRC win.

"We have had a great relationship with Subaru - we have enjoyed phenomenal support from the team which ran our Subaru STI, Symtech Racing, as well as Subaru personnel in New Zealand, Japan and Europe.

"It was a hard decision to not continue with Subaru, but we have to keep moving forward in the best manner to help make my ultimate goal of winning the World Rally Championship a reality. The next step from where we were was obviously S2000 so that's what we've done."

- NZ HERALD STAFF