Hayden Paddon answered his doubters in emphatic fashion by finishing second at WRC Paraguay, securing his second podium of the season. The achievement is even more impressive considering Paraguay was only Paddon's fourth WRC event of the year.
Paddon benefited from a favorable road position on Friday, as well as problems and mistakes from other drivers. But opportunities still need to be seized, and that is exactly what Paddon did. He avoided major mistakes, kept a consistent pace, and brought his Hyundai home safely in second place.
"An incredible result and obviously unexpected. We knew we could be much more competitive on gravel than on tarmac," Paddon said.
Paddon has shared Hyundai's third Rally1 car this season with Esapekka Lappi and Dani Sordo. Interestingly, gravel rallies were not even part of his original program. "I'm grateful just to have had this opportunity. The original agreement was only for tarmac rallies. Now we've had the chance to compete on gravel, and I felt comfortable in the car. The car clearly works extremely well on gravel too," he added.
Despite his limited program, Paddon has made his opportunities count, now with two podiums from four WRC rallies. The Paraguay result also served as a strong response to those who questioned whether the experienced New Zealander could still match the pace of the world's best. According to Paddon, he didn't even need to extract all of the available potential. "It's great to leave here with a result like this knowing that we achieved it at a very safe pace and everything just worked. There would be more to come in the future if we ever get the opportunity," he asserted.
Paddon had no intention of taking unnecessary risks in the closing stages. The gap to Toyota's Sami Pajari at the front had grown to more than 20 seconds, and Paddon understood that catching the Finn on pure pace would be extremely difficult. "Once we were more than 20 seconds behind, we knew on Saturday morning that we weren't going to close that gap on pure pace. We're up against the best drivers in the world," he said.
From that point, Paddon's focus was primarily on managing his position. "It was about managing the gaps in front and behind. We had to keep the pressure on ahead while also looking after the gap behind us," he explained. Paddon's formula was ultimately simple: no heroics and no unnecessary risks. "We just drove our own rally and focused on what we were doing. We kept it really tidy and kept the car in the middle of the road. We achieved all of our objectives," he concluded.
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