A testing two days in New South Wales at the Coffs Coast Rally saw New Zealander Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard overcome a blown turbo hose and broken driveshaft to take rally victory and claim the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship.
In the winner-take-all showdown, the Kiwi, competing in a Hyundai i20 AP4, started strongly, taking the first two stages.
It was SS3 where things being to slightly unravel, Paddon was affected by a blown turbo hose. Despite this, he trooped on to lead proceedings by 20 seconds over 2020 Australia Rally Cup winner Harry Bates heading into the second half of the day.
SS4 was cancelled following this, an earlier off for a back-runner on SS2 not seeing the road cleared in time for the rerun.
Paddon was then made to work once proceedings resumed on SS5 shortly after, a broken driveshaft meaning he had to complete the remainder of the day in 3WD. He also had a 30 second penalty applied to his name for arriving late at TC5A.
Thankfully he was able to limit his losses over that stage and the following SS6, SS7 and SS8 to end the first day trailing leader Bates by 27.7 seconds. Nathan Quinn also jumped ahead of the Kiwi to sit second whilst Bates’ brother, Lewis Bates, was close behind in fourth.
The car repaired overnight, Paddon and Kennard went about making up time over the second and final day of the event.
It took just three stages for him to return to top spot, making up the time difference quickly.
Harry Bates, who was running second, was then an unlucky casualty on SS12, crashing out 21km into the 25km stage.
This pushed Quinn up to second and Lewis Bates third, the latter now in prime position to take the seven-event Australia Rally Championship.
Paddon continued to build his lead whilst treading cautiously to avoid damaging the car, winning that stage and the next to make it five from five for the day.
Heading into the final run, SS14, his lead over Quinn was 1min 37sec, victory all but safe should a clean run follow.
Lewis Bates was also safe in third, needing to only finish to take the Australian title.
They both accomplished their feats, the Australian denying Paddon a clean-sweep of stage victories on the day to be fastest by .9sec.
Paddon still finished second on the stage to take the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship over Quinn by 1min 41.9sec, Lewis Bates third overall some 4min 9.6sec off top spot.
All in all, it was a commanding victory for Paddon who was unlucky not to win by more following car issues throughout the first day. Harry Bates crashing out also removed a key competitor.
Paddon and Kennard can now rest easy with yet another trophy locked up for the season in what has proved to be an extremely successful year for the New Zealand rally great.
