Paddon Wins Rally of Otago

Paddon wins Otago rally

The weekend’s 8 -10 April opening round of the 2011 Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship has seen top rally driver Hayden Paddon secure a comprehensive win at the DriveSouth Rally of Otago.

Coming out 1 minute 36.9 seconds ahead after 15 special stages, Paddon took an early lead in the dark of Friday evening to eventually cross the finish ramp first at Dunedin’s railway station on the Sunday afternoon.

Second, defending title champion Dean Sumner from Rotorua put in a strong performance on the final 47 kilometre special stage to slightly narrow Paddon’s advantage. Sumner, in a Mitsubishi, was in an earlier battle for position with Dunedin local and Subaru driver Emma Gilmour, before an off-road excursion dropped her down the order mid-morning. Finishing third, former champion Chris

West from Timaru grew his performance over the course of the weekend, edging out another former champion, Richard Mason from finishing on the podium.

Taking the advantage in to the final stage, Mason punctured near the end to lose only enough time for the dais position. The Subaru STI husband and wife team had to settle for fourth after the 270 kilometre competition across the lower Otago region.

While Paddon relinquished some of his overnight Saturday lead, his pace kept him at the head of the day’s standings to collect a maximum haul of 128 points, to Sumner’s 108 and West’s 89.

"It’s a great result for the team – definitely," said Paddon; having won on debut with the Robbie Leicester owned Subaru STI. "There were a lot of unknown’s coming to an event we know well but with a car we’d never used here. So it’s been a bit of a rush and we haven’t quite got it doing what we want right yet, but already we’ve got good speed. We’ve just got to work on the areas we know need improving, do some testing and get it better for the next one."

Drilled on when that might be, Paddon said they were working hard at securing a deal to see them contest the championship second round: Rally New Zealand in early May

Overall results DriveSouth Rally of Otago 8-10 April 2011 – top ten.

Pos, No, Driver, Co-Driver, Hometown, Vehicle, Time

1, 2, Hayden Paddon, John Kennard, Geraldine, Subaru STI 2:34:44.2

2, 1, Dean Sumner, Paul Fallon, Rotorua, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX, +1:36.9

3, 4, Chris West, Erin Kyle, Timaru, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX, +2:29.4

4, 5, Richard Mason, Sara Mason, Masterton, Subaru STI, +2:47.1

5, 101, Andrew Hawkeswood, Rocky Hudson, Alexandra, Audi Quattro, +3:39.9

6, 7, Glenn Inkster, Glenn Goldring, Auckland, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX, +5:38.1

7, 6, Geof Argyle, Phillip Deakin, Feilding, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII, +6:02.9

8, 11, Ben Jagger, Ben Hawkins, Whangarei, Subaru STI, +7:42.8

9, 104, Dean Bond, Ross Moody, Balclutha, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 6.5, +7:47.7

10, 3, Emma Gilmour, Glenn Macneall, Dunedin, Subaru STI, +8:33.7

Paddon wins Rally Portugal

Portuguese PWRC triumph for Paddon

After a fifth place on the opening Super Special Stage in Lisbon, 2010 Pirelli Star Driver Paddon led the PWRC from SS2, the first stage of Day One proper, and didn’t look back. Confident in his 2010 pace notes, Paddon spent Day One getting used to driving the rough Portuguese stages in a Subaru not his usual Mitsubishi. He handled the switch with ease and pushed to increase his lead until midday service on Day Two when with 13.9 seconds in hand, he eased off and focused on getting to the finish unperturbed. This strategy proved to be a good one. On Day Three, he broke his suspension arm on SS15 and had to crawl about 10km to the end of the stage, which cost him nearly two minutes, but barely chipped away at his impressive lead. Fortunately, he was able to replace it with a spare on the road section back to midday service and remained over eight minutes ahead of the pack.

While Paddon’s skill is unquestionable, the size of his victory was in part due to the problems of Championship rivals Michal Ko?ciuszko (POL), Patrik Flodin (SWE) and Anders Grøndal (NOR). After a strong fourth on SS2, the gearbox on the 2010 SWRC driver’s Mitsubishi broke on SS3 forcing him to retire prematurely from Day One. He superallied on Day Two and put in consistently quick times throughout the rest of the event, even picking up his first two PWRC stage wins on SS12 and SS13. However, despite mastering the Portuguese stages, the 2009 JWRC Runner-up couldn’t make up the time he’d lost due to Day One’s misfortune. Flodin too fell victim to the treacherous SS3 when he went off and rolled his Subaru four times. He was able to get going again, but was over eight minutes off the pace. Following this, his Subaru was a little worse for wear throughout the event and the Swede, known for his phenomenal pace, was unable to rival Paddon’s times.

Grøndal proved his talent on Day One in Portugal. His first time on the rough gravel stages, he came home a well deserved second to the more experienced Paddon. The 2010 Norwegian Champion spent Day One looking for the right set-up for the Portuguese stages, but was otherwise untroubled until Day Two. On SS11 he broke a differential and then things tumbled from bad to worse when he went off the road on SS12 and rolled his Impreza. Unlike Ko?ciuszko and Flodin, he was unable to continue with the rally and despite proving his pace time and again, retired without points for the second PWRC round in-a-row this season.

This series of surprises all made room for Jukka Ketomäki (FIN) who drove a steady but strong event throughout and Martin Semerád (CZE) who had fallen behind due to tyre problems on Day One to finish second and third. This marked Semerád’s second podium of the season, after he became the youngest ever driver to win a PWRC round in Sweden earlier this year.

Benito Guerra (MEX) had mixed feelings about his impressive fourth place after undertaking the event with a new team, co-driver and Mitsubishi. His delight at picking up 12 PWRC points was tempered by his last minute loss of a place on the podium. After finishing Day Two in a strong third place and almost three minutes ahead of nearest rival Jukka Ketomäki, he lost his turbo on the long SS15 and with it seven minutes. Even so, he successfully completed the morning loop, but suffered a further time penalty, because a turbo change made him late out of service. Never to be defeated, he powered through the second loop of Day Three, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to catch Semerád.

DRIVER QUOTES

Paddon wins Rally New Zealand

Paddon wins Rally NZ with significant margin

New Zealanders Hayden Paddon and John Kennard have won Rally New Zealand with a considerable margin of 2 min 26.8 sec over Richard and Sara Mason after 267 competitive kilometres over the weekend of 7 and 8 May. Paddon and Kennard, New Zealand’s top rallying pairing, become the first Kiwis to win the event for 30 years.

Paddon dominated the event from the outset, winning six of eight of the first day’s stages and setting a new stage record and winning two more stages on the final day.

The event, while not a World Rally Championship event, attracted a very strong field of competitors registered for the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship battling for the Rally New Zealand trophy on both days on roads through the Franklin, North Waikato and Raglan districts.

Paddon was the favourite to win this weekend’s rally and the two-time New Zealand rally champion drove with both composure and pace from start to finish.

"It’s been a great weekend and it’s pretty cool to know that my name’s going to be engraved on the trophy beside names like Colin McRae. He was always one of my heroes, so that makes this a very special victory," said Paddon.

"It’s always fantastic to win and it’s a huge credit to our team who have been working really hard with this new car. It is great to see that all our work is taking us in the right direction with this Group N Subaru, which will be a major benefit with the Symtech-built Subaru we run in the Production World Rally Championship with our next round being in Argentina at the end of this month."

While Paddon’s pace was clear from the outset, fellow competitors enjoyed an intense and, at times, heart-breaking tussle for the other podium positions. Masterton’s husband-and-wife team of Richard and Sara Mason were chased hard by Dunedin’s engaged couple Emma Gilmour and Glenn Macneall, with the Subaru driver duos swapping places, mostly in the top five, through the event’s 14 competitive stages. Double rally champion Mason exerted additional pressure on day two to extend a final margin of 1 min, 13.4 sec over Gilmour.

Mason took two stage wins on his way to second place, both on the Whaanga Coast. "We were happy to win those stages, but our times weren’t as good as they have been on other WRC events. Overall we’ve got a little more to do to match Hayden’s pace, but we were thinking of the championship first as Hayden will miss two of the rounds. Now we think we have stepped ahead of the other guys in the championship and that’s the main thing."

Also in the mix for the top three spots earlier on were defending champion Dean Sumner of Rotorua and former champion Chris West of Christchurch. Sumner put in two top five stage times early on Sunday, but slid off the road just short of the finish on the first run through Whaanga Coast and his rally was over. West again faced cruel luck when a mechanical failure occurred just outside the gates to Hampton Downs Motorsport Park as he was heading for the final stage of the event, a high speed run around the tarmac circuit. West’s demise bought ever-steady competitor and series sponsor Brian Green, of Palmerston North, into fourth place.

Fifth place overall went to Kaiapoi’s Brian Stokes piloting a classic Ford Escort RS1800. The former rally champion also won the Rally New Zealand Historic Rally title. Behind Stokes was another Kaiapoi and historic class competitor Marcus Van Klink who topped the points-table for the New Zealand Historic Challenge Trophy in his Mazda RX7.

Seventh overall and top Group N two-wheel-drive competitor was Nelson’s Ben Hunt. The former Rally New Zealand Rising Stars Scholarship winner heads the 2WD points-table after winning this class in Otago.

"It’s been a fantastic event," said 23-year-old Hunt. "I love these roads and we’re been pushing pretty hard so it’s great to have finished so well."

The top ten places were rounded out by Matt Van Tuinen from Queensland, Sloan Cox from Rotorua, who battled punctures and clutch issues to hold on to the finish and Josh Marston from Christchurch, who holds second on the 2WD leader-board.

The Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship continues at Rally Wairarapa on 28 and 29 May. Rally New Zealand will next run in 2012 as a World Rally Championship event with the date still to be confirmed.

Rally New Zealand: Provisional overall results
Position, Driver/Co-driver, Driver’s Hometown, Car, Total time/Margin to leader
1, Hayden Paddon/John Kennard, Geraldine, Subaru STI, 2:56:19.8
2, Richard Mason/Sara Mason, Masterton Subaru STI, +2:26.8
3, Emma Gilmour/Glenn Macneall, Dunedin, Subaru STI, +3:40.2
4, Brian Green/Fleur Pedersen, Palmerston North, Mitsubishi EVO10, +15:07.8
5, Brian Stokes/Ally Mackay, Kaiapoi, Ford Escort RS1800, +17:28.4 (H)
6, Marcus Van Klink/Dave Neill, Kaiapoi, Mazda RX7, +17:31.0 (H)
7, Ben Hunt/Tony Rawstorn, Nelson, Ford Fiesta ST, +17:37.1 (2)
8, Matt Van Tuinen/Nathan Long, Queensland Australia, Subaru STI, +21:13.2
9, Sloan Cox/Tarryn Cox, Rotorua, Mitsubishi EVO10, +21:58.3
10, Josh Marston/Sarah Coatsworth, Christchurch, Ford Fiesta ST, +22:57.1 (2)

Paddon wins Rally Argentina

Paddon makes it two-for-two with victory in PWRC at Rally Argentina

Kiwi pairing Hayden Paddon and John Kennard clinched their second victory in-a-row in their Michelin-shod Subaru Impreza on the third round of the 2011 FIA Production car World Rally Championship at Rally Argentina this weekend. Paddon, who didn’t nominate Rally Sweden as a scoring PWRC round, also now tops the Championship standings, displacing young Czech driver Martin Semerád (Mitsubishi), despite having competed in one less event.

"Absolutely amazing!" said Paddon at the finish of Rally Argentina. "I didn’t come here to win and to come away with maximum points is great for the Championship. Performance-wise it hasn’t been completely satisfying, but a great result for the team. There’s still a long way to go and we need to take it one round at a time, but it’s absolutely fantastic."

His first outing in Argentina, Paddon decided to practise a strategy of caution on Day One. Despite electrical gremlins which set in from SS4 onwards, strong times kept Paddon on the pace of the frontrunners, but sitting in a contented third, until the final stage of the day when the retirements of then first- and second-placed Patrik Flodin (SWE, Subaru) and Michal Ko?ciuszko (POL, Mitsubishi) promoted the Kiwi into the lead. Paddon’s Subaru continued with low power and slight misfiring throughout Day Two despite changes to his engine management system at midday service. However, the 2010 Pirelli Star Driver once again focused on putting in steady times and getting his Impreza through the stages. Even ‘steady’ times earned the unfailingly quick Paddon, who came to Argentina straight off the back of an almost flawless victory on his first round of the 2011 PWRC in Portugal, another stage win on SS15 and an eight minute lead over then second-placed Flodin by the end of Day Two. Another set of strong times on Day Three, and Paddon cruised home to victory in the PWRC, the first of an all-Subaru top three, and ninth place overall, earning him two WRC points.

A fantastic result for Endless equipped cars in this weekends Rally NZ. It has been the 40th aniversary running of the Rally and as per usual all the top drivers enjoyed the fast flowing roads of the rally.

Fords number two driver Jari-matti Latrvala pulled off a last stage win to take the Rally win from Sebastien Ogier. The last days competition was heart in the mouth stuff with the title going down to the wire, any one of four drivers having a shot at the win going into the final stage of the event.

In the PWRC class local boy Hayden Paddon and John Kennard took the top honours from Emma Gilmour and Glenn Mcneal. Both of these teams using Endless brake pads in their Mitsubishi and Subaru cars respectively.

From the outset Hayden set a blistering pace to take a comfortable lead of over a minute going into day two, some of the competition fell by the wayside in the early stages trying to match his pace. From the start of day two Hayden just needed to consolidate this lead, which he did so. The only hiccup being a clutch problem giving him a few jitters during the final few stages.

Another superb drive by Hayden and Emma, We at prosport are proud to be associated with both of these top teams.

Jenson Button and his Brawn GP team were crowned Formula One champions with a race to spare in an action packed Brazilian Grand prix on Sunday.

Button finished fifth to become Britians 10th world champion, with closest rival and team mate Rubens Barrichello suffering a late puncture and crossing the line eighth after starting his home race on pole position.

Button, who belted out an off-tune "We Are The Champions, My Friends" over the team radio on his slowing down lap, was ecstatic after a rain-hit qualifying session had left him starting 14th.

"Oh what a race. I am world champion, I am world champion. Its been such an interesting season," he said, embracing his mechanics before a congratulatory from Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

"It is really amazing. Today was such an awesome race and I am world champion. I never expected to be world champion in Formula One.

Hayden Paddon wins NZ Rally Championship                        

Nothing tastes sweeter for Hayden Paddon than the icing on the cake whipped up by winning the Rally of Nelson and with it the New Zealand Rally Championship for the second year running.

Its been a pretty stellar year. I couldn't have dreamed for a better set of results. All in all the whole team is over the moon, he says.

After extending his overnight lead in the rally, Hayden (22) and co-driver John Kennard went on to win three of the final days stages to take a solid victory of 42 seconds over second place.

Paddon and team Green will now turn their focus to competing in next months Dunlop Targa, a week long tarmac event held in the North Island, the event enables Paddon to clock up more tarmac experience in preperation for his Pirelli Star Driver scholarship which will see him compete in six rounds of the PWRC next year. 

Hayden Paddon and Team Green use Endless Brakes exclusively in both their group N Mitsubishi's.