The 38-year-old Paddon will contest selected WRC events this season in Hyundai’s third Rally1 car. The New Zealander was last seen in the sport’s top category back in the 2018 season.
Paddon will be thrown straight into action at the season-opening Rally Monte Carlo next week. He got his first taste of the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 car last weekend, when the team held a media day alongside its test on mountain roads in France.
Paddon faced his own challenges during the initial test – though not so much with the car itself. His very first kilometres in the Rally1 machine came on icy and snow-covered asphalt.
“I expected a big challenge and a big change. I was just surprised by how tricky the conditions were. It was like jumping in at the deep end and trying to learn how to swim in a car you haven’t even driven before,” Paddon said.
“We went straight onto full ice – probably the most difficult conditions we can experience on a rally,” he added.
A winner of one WRC round during his career, Paddon spent years dreaming of a return to the top level of rallying and to a Rally1 car. However, relief was not the dominant feeling after the first test.
“There were probably more nerves than relief. It’s been such a whirlwind with how quickly everything has happened since the start of December,” Paddon explained.
In recent years, Paddon has competed with Hyundai’s Rally2 machinery, with which he has won, among other achievements, two European Rally Championship titles. The Rally1 car, however, is a completely different proposition.
“It was good to get a small taste of the car, but it was very tricky in icy conditions – it wasn’t exactly confidence-inspiring to begin with,” Paddon said.
“It wasn’t really fair conditions to judge things on, but the initial feeling is that this car is very different to the cars we’ve been driving in recent years and there is certainly going to be a lot to adapt to.”
This week, Paddon was able to familiarise himself further with his new tool during a test at his team’s new test base in southern France.
Paddon’s official debut with Hyundai’s Rally1 car will begin on 22 January, when the season-opening Rally Monte Carlo gets under way.
