Motorsport: Champion Paddon's sights on WRC

Hayden Paddon doing the business during last weekend's Rally Australia. Photo / Alan McDonald

There's more to young Kiwi rally star Hayden Paddon than outright speed. He's made history - his next challenge is to defy it.

Paddon's fourth consecutive 2011 Production WRC victory in Australia last weekend put this year's world title beyond the reach of his rivals.

The 24-year-old from Geraldine becomes the first driver from a Southern Hemisphere nation to win a fully-fledged FIA World Rally Championship and, sealing the title in Australia, allowed Paddon and his team the opportunity to celebrate with more of his friends and supporters than had success come in Spain or Wales later this year.

It also buys Paddon a little more time to work on what he'll do next as the Production WRC crown is only a interim goal. The champagne was still being sprayed in Coffs Harbour on Sunday afternoon but Paddon was already looking ahead to bigger and better things.

So why must Paddon defy history? Because winning the Production WRC has never been the route to the top of the sport.

It's been the front-wheel-drive Super 1600 cars that developed the current generation of talent. Look at the list of former Production WRC winners and the title represents the peak of their career rather than a stepping stone to success at a higher level. But scan the list of Junior WRC champs and the names include Loeb, Ogier and Sordo while Mini WRC driver Kris Meeke is also a graduate of the S1600 ranks.

And there's no disguising that, in recent years, the Production WRC has lacked the depth of competition it used to have and that Group N cars have lost their relevance in world rallying. The majority of drivers Paddon has beaten this year are wealthy enthusiasts.

But two things stand out about Paddon's performances. He has won by minutes rather than a few seconds and, in Finland, he beat fast Finns on their home turf.

Those big PWRC winning margins in Portugal and Argentina were impressive but it was the Rally Finland result that is most significant in terms of judging whether Paddon can be a competitive force at the very top level of the sport. If you are fast enough in Finland, then you will be fast enough anywhere.

But there's more to the young Kiwi star than just outright speed. He's intelligent, supremely calm and works hard to promote not just his own sponsors but his sport.

The problem facing Paddon - and any other young hopefuls - is there is no defined route to the top of rallying. And there is just a handful of drivers in the world who can be considered as truly professional in the way that hundreds of racing drivers are.

That situation may improve slightly as the WRC expands to include Volkswagen as a fourth team in 2013 - assuming Ford stays beyond the end of 2011 - but, to secure a seat with a manufacturer team, Paddon will to have prove to team bosses and boards of directors that he is clearly a better investment than drivers from countries with much bigger car markets than New Zealand.

I think Paddon will succeed. I recall a conversation I had with him at the end of the 2007 when he'd come up one point short of winning the NZ Rally Championship, having just turned 20.

There was some disappointment but also a fierce determination to learn from coming so close. He went on to win the New Zealand title in 2008 and 2009.

Since then his track record is to set what seem ambitious goals and then achieve them in convincing style. Winning the Production WRC would be an unusual step up the WRC ladder but it's one more demonstration of Paddon's determination to get there.

- APNZ