Eight years ago, Hayden Paddon walked away from the World Rally Championship's top flight and tried to forget it ever happened. This season the New Zealander is back in a Hyundai i20 N Rally1 — and after a podium on his comeback campaign, he is ready to take the safety catches off at Rally Japan.
Paddon's return came together with startling speed. When Ott Tanak announced his retirement, Paddon — who has been associated with Hyundai for 12 years — fired off what he calls "a pretty out-there email."
"I just put my hand up, saying, 'Hey look, I'm still here, I'm still competitive, I'm still interested,'" Paddon recalled. "I was expecting a response of, 'Okay, thank you, but no thanks.' Within 24 hours we pretty much got offered three rallies off the cuff. Literally six weeks later we were on the start line of Monte Carlo."
Monte Carlo, he admits, was "a baptism of fire — the most difficult rally on the calendar." It was also the event he least wanted to revisit. "The way to deal with it all those years ago was to forget about it and think it's a place we won't go back to," he said. "It goes to show you shouldn't run away from your problems. This was the best counselling session — to actually just go back, compete and get back on the horse."
A third-place finish on the campaign followed, a result Paddon scarcely believed was possible. "We didn't even think we'd be in a Rally1 car this year, let alone be standing back on a WRC podium," he said.
"I wouldn't have put myself forward first as the quickest driver out there," he said. "What we've got to offer is experience. The bigger picture is not just about this year — it's about how we can help the team move forward with the new regulations coming for 2027. They didn't want some young hot-shot in the third car putting it in the trees all the time. They needed stability, so hopefully the positive of having a few grey hairs now is a bit of wisdom."
So far the deal has been a run of tarmac events, where Toyota hold the upper hand. Rally Japan, another tarmac round, is where Paddon intends to change his approach.
"The plan for Japan is that we can try and unleash a little bit more and not have to take quite as much of a safety approach," he said. "We've been given pretty clear targets by the team, and so far we're exactly on target. Now we want to build on the speed a bit more."
Paddon is realistic about the bigger picture. He remains hungry for a gravel rally to show his full hand, and is non-committal about 2027 amid uncertainty over Hyundai's plans and the incoming regulations.
"It's wait and see," he said. "Nobody knows what the sport's going to have next year in terms of teams and cars. From my side, it's about putting myself back out there. If I can stay competitive and there's an opportunity, I'll take it — but I'm the first to admit that if we're not competitive, I'm not going to take up a seat."
For now, the long-term dream of running his own outfit "with that Kiwi flair" as a team principal can wait. There is a WRC car to drive, and at Rally Japan, Paddon plans to drive it harder.
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