Hayden Paddon has powered to a commanding win at Rali Ceredigion in Wales to strengthen his grip on a second consecutive European Rally Championship title.
Paddon began Sunday’s four stages with a comfortable 1min 18.7sec advantage, which grew to 1min 30.8sec on the day’s opening stage when Chris Ingram, the 2019 ERC champion, crashed heavily.
That advantage continued to grow over the remainder of the day, with the Kiwi also taking five championship bonus points with Power Stage victory to win the event by 1min 47.3 seconds over Italy’s Andrea Mabellini.
Paddon’s closest title rival, Mathieu Franceschi, finished third, meaning the 2024 title will be decided at Rally Silesia in October. Twenty-seven points separate the two ahead of the season finale, with a maximum of 35 points on offer.
“It was a very good weekend,” said Paddon, who piloted his Hyundai i20 N Rally2 with co-driver John Kennard at his side.
“Everything has just gone like clockwork. It’s full credit to the guys in the team because they’ve been working hard all year to get things dialled in with the car and everything has clicked a lot, even this weekend.
“Not only the car but the tyres have been working well in the conditions, the pace notes, John, when everything works, it’s easy.
“We’ve been chasing this feeling for quite a while, and finally, this weekend, we got that feeling.”
Having topped qualifying and the two opening stages, Paddon held his lead from start to finish, going fastest on 11 of the 14 stages for his first international rally win of 2024.
The Rali Ceredigion victory is Paddon’s second at that event, following his 2021 triumph alongside co-driver Jared Hudson.
The 2024 FIA European Rally Championship title-deciding Rally Silesia takes place in Poland from 11 – 13 October.
