On his way to clinching the PWRC title at round 10 of the World Rally Championships, Paddon also finished inside the top 10 in the overall standings, earning eight WRC points for his sixth place ahead of Sebastien Loeb who finished 10th.
Paddon arrived in Australia with a 25-point buffer over nearest rival Czech Martin Semerad and Swedish driver Patrik Flodin another 16 points further back.
Since his nearest challengers opted to skip the Aussie round, only the Polish driver Michel Kosciuszko could have been the fly in the ointment.
After a solid start to the rally on Friday and Saturday morning, things began to unravel for Paddon when his car blew a turbo pipe and the pair had to limp through a number of stages. By service Paddon had lost his comfortable lead over Kosciuszko and was now 50 seconds off the pace.
After repairs had been made he hit the gravel with a vengeance and by the end of the day was back at the top of the leader board, albeit by one second.
On the final day of the rally Paddon pulled out to a 51.3sec lead on the opening stages and brought the car home to win.
Although Semerad can still draw level with Paddon by winning the final two events of the season, the Czech would still lose the title on count-back.
Driven caught up with New Zealand's newest world champion.
Driven: What's it like to be a world champion?
Paddon: It's good to finally get it done. It hasn't really sunk in yet and it'll take a bit of getting used to. Maybe when I get home [New Zealand] it will. Rally Australia wasn't an easy rally at all for us and the clay-based roads were treacherously slippery.
D: It must have been good to have your New Zealand crew in Australia to help you win the PWRC world title?
P: It was massive to have them over here with us. The team has been a big part of my career and to have actually won a world championship with them is huge. Particularly for someone like Dad who has put so much into it over the years. From the day I started go-karting it's taken 18 years to get here.
D: So it all started in karting then?
P: Yeah, I started when I was 6. I did a bit of both karts and dirt but when the karting stopped we sat down to try and decide which direction to take. As I was brought up around rallying it didn't take long to decide that was the direction I wanted to take.
D: What sort of plan did you have for the rally?
P: The plan was to go as fast as possible at the start of the rally, get the lead and consolidate it. The plan went a bit out the window with the overheating and turbo pipe problem so we had to play catch-up. It was quite enjoyable. It's more fun to be chasing and trying to get the lead, than to be way out in front. Sometimes being in front can cause a lapse of concentration and in all fairness it was a more enjoyable place having to push.
D: You've entered four rallies and won four rallies. Are you the first to do so?
P: I don't believe anyone else has done that before.
D: Would you have thought 12 months ago that you'd be chatting as a world champion?
P: Twelve months ago I was back home in New Zealand with no money, no sponsors, no campaign and we didn't even think we would be able to do the PWRC. We found the sponsors, we found a car and a team and now we're here after a stunning year.
It's a big pay back for the people and sponsors who helped us get here.
