New Zealand rally great Hayden Paddon has secured his seventh New Zealand Rally Championship title by winning this weekend’s Rally Bay of Plenty with co-driver John Kennard.
This year’s Bathurst 1000 winner Shane van Gisbergen and co-driver Glen Weston came home in second, 30 seconds off the pace, while two-time national champion Ben Hunt classified third, a further two minutes behind.
Paddon entered the 11-stage rally with a 14-point championship lead and only needed to finish in the top seven to secure the title over Raana Horan, despite missing Round 3’s Rally South Canterbury while focussing on European Rally Championship commitments.
The shootout for championship glory would only last until Stage 2 when Horan ran into a bank and broke a suspension arm on his Skoda Fabia R5 Evo. He returned on Special Stage 3 to salvage a result, finishing in 41st.
Van Gisbergen’s final rally hitout of 2023 saw him upstage the former WRC driver on two of the eleven stages, including on the second run of the iconic Manawahe test. Paddon, however, won all nine other stages.
Hunt’s drive for third in the Skoda New Zealand Fabia Rally2 came off the back of an afternoon escape road excursion, with Todd Bawden finishing a commendable fourth, only 47.5 seconds outside the podium places in a Ford Fiesta Rally 2.
Dylan Thomson was the first NZRC 2WD class competitor home in 12th overall, securing the 2WD Rally Championship over Bryn Jones, who was third in class at Rally BoP behind Tim Mackersy.
A mechanical failure for Dan Haines in the Open 2WD class saw local driver JP van der Meys triumph, but it wasn’t enough to prevent him from winning the overall title.
Mike Cameron won the Historic 2WD class, which John Silcock secured at last month’s Daybreaker Rally.
Up-and-comer Zeal Jones edged Jeff Ward in the Rally Challenge class to win the rally and the title, bringing a thrilling season-long battle to a conclusion.
Jono Shapley topped Sam Byrne in the Rally Challenge 2WD class, while Jared Parker secured the title by finishing third, just ahead of Brett Maddren.
Amy Keighley won the Group A Challenge in her Subaru H6.
Header Image: Tayler Burke
