Hayden Paddon is attracted by the World Rally Championship’s next set of regulations in 2027, but not as a driver.
The reigning European Rally champion has started over 80 events at world level – mostly for Hyundai – and became the first New Zealand driver to win an event in Argentina, 2016.
But the 37-year-old has long held ambitions to foster Kiwi participation in the WRC by running his own team.
The WRC’s next set of top-class cars will cost significantly less than the current Rally1 machines, opening the door of possibility to those like Paddon.
“These new rules that have been announced for ‘27 are definitely of interest and definitely create opportunities for people like us to potentially build and run our own cars,” Paddon told DirtFish.
“I guess at the moment it’s still a bit vague in terms of the exact rules, so it’ll be interesting to see what comes out of that over the next sort of six months to see if that’s something that we can target.”
Spaceframe chassis will remain from 2027 but cars will utilize Rally2-level engines, transmission and brakes with a cost cap of €345,000.
That’s all attractive, but according to Paddon so is the “flexibility in the rules that there’s some potential we can build our own car”.
He added: “We’ve got a lot of very good young engineers, it would be great to try and utilize some of the good Kiwi ingenuity and innovation we’ve got going down here.
“And I think there’s just a lot more of a storyline that you can tell behind that in terms of launching a New Zealand team if things are actually built and designed from Kiwi land.
“Then we potentially have more opportunities to get funding and investors and build a bit of a business model around it.
“As it stands right now, while the Rally1 cars are cool, it’s impossible for a small team like us to even think the Rally1 program’s possible. Whereas these new rules do potentially…”
Paddon takes a second to think.
“As I say, it’s still vague, we don’t know all the rules yet, but it could potentially open up opportunities for us.”
Australia Paddon’s next driving target
After two seasons in Europe, Paddon is poised to compete closer to home this year
With two ERC titles from the past two seasons, Paddon has his sights set on a new challenge in 2025: the Australian Rally Championship.
“That’s what we’re targeting, yeah,” he confirmed to DirtFish, “but it’s just a matter of trying to get the finances in place at the moment, which is not so easy in the current time. So, yeah, probably a little bit more focus on this side of the world.”
The fact it’s a new territory to conquer, and Toyota has dominated the scene with the Bates brothers Harry and Lewis for years, appeals to Paddon.
“It’s something new and something different. It’s a new challenge that we haven’t embarked on before,” he said. “Hyundai hasn’t won in Australia before, so we like the challenge of trying to change the status quo.”
And there’s also the allure of emulating his hero Possum Bourne.
Bourne's rivalry with Neal Bates was iconic in the 90s
“As a kid I remember watching Possum Bourne who was obviously dominant in Australia, and the whole Possum Bourne versus Neil Bates rivalry,” he smiled.
“For me it probably reignites and reminds me a bit of the Trans-Tasman rivalry, but it might sort of spark a bit more interest.”
Whether John Kennard comes over from Europe for that program is yet to be decided.
“Obviously we need to do something with John next year because it’s our 20th anniversary,” Paddon explained. “But obviously we’re bringing Jared [Hudson] up through the ranks as well.
“So first we’ve just got to work out what our program is and what rallies we will do and then it’ll be a mix of both of them throughout the season, I’m sure.”
