Pressure. What pressure? Hayden Paddon says he is feeling absolutely none of it as he returns to the World Rally Championship for the first time in almost three years this week.
Paddon has been on the fringes of the world championship since losing his Hyundai Motorsport drive at the end of 2018.
M-Sport Ford was supposed to give him some refuge in 2019, but a freak testing accident in Finland ruled him out of the rally in a Fiesta WRC, before his second WRC outing in Australia was canceled due to wild bush fires.
Paddon did sneak one WRC rally with M-Sport in that year, Rally GB, competing in a Fiesta Rally2 in WRC2, but he hasn’t been back since.
Rally Estonia marks the first stage of Paddon’s comeback as he wades into the WRC2 battle with his own brand-new Hyundai i20 N Rally2, before contesting Rally Finland three weeks’ later and his native Rally New Zealand in October.
There’ll likely be plenty who will be expecting a result from Paddon, but his plan is to get his foot back in the door, not blow it off its hinges.
“There is zero pressure, this is the beauty of doing it with your own team,” Paddon told DirtFish.
“Obviously we’re representing our partners and we’re all in it to win it, but we know what our plan is this year and our plan is not to win it this year.
“Our plan is not to jeopardize our program this year and actually give us the best chance we can for next year, so to do that we’re taking a very, I guess, step by step approach this year.
“I’m not answerable to a manager if you like where there’s pressure on me for a result or you have to do this or that. We’re doing this purely for ourselves and I think that’s just a good mindset, and for me it’s a more relaxed approach to the rallies.
“We obviously still want to do a good job and I’m a pretty competitive person, but it means that we can keep our expectations in check and just try and take a little bit of pressure off.
“To be honest all the rallies this year are really prep rallies for us,” he added. “We’re trying to gradually build up.
“Getting too wrapped up in results or performance at this early stage will probably lead us down a path we don’t want to go and then you start to focus on things that are not going to help us long term.”
Paddon’s long-term vision is a more complete WRC2 season next year which he hopes will propel him back into the top class. But Paddon knows he’s “got a bit of catching up to do” to be fighting for that title, and that’s exactly what this year is about.
That explains his “zero pressure” mentality, but in returning to the WRC Paddon will have to adjust to becoming the hunter once again rather than the hunted that he often is back home in New Zealand.
“Everyone here in Europe, they’ve been pushing each other to go faster over the last three years,” he said.
“In New Zealand, the competition is going very well, it’s very good but for us, it’s a very different mentality because a lot of the time the rallies in New Zealand are ours to lose, and when you have that mentality in your driving you certainly do take a bit more of a cautious approach.
“Here in Europe you can’t have a cautious approach, you have to be on it all the time so I’ve got to be pushing myself, and we’re factoring that in this year so we can be back on top next year.”
Paddon does at least have some idea of what he is in for this week as he contested Rally Estonia back when it was a WRC promotional event in 2018.
Driving a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC he finished second to home hero Ott Tänak’s Toyota but ahead of Craig Breen’s Citroën.
“The biggest thing I remember from ’18 was the commitment required to be fast,” Paddon said.
“The front guys were just seriously on the limit everywhere, and it’s a rally where you can get away with more compared to Finland. In Finland for example if you push a bit more and over the edge you’re in the ditches or the trees whereas in Estonia there is a bit of give that you can push a little bit hard and get away with it.”
But the message remains clear.
“I don’t think we’ll be winning! You’ve got to factor in all the regulars that are there, you can’t underestimate the people that are going out they’re all at a good level – the young drivers, the seasoned drivers.
“I don’t expect in any way to be able to be on the same level as them straight away, so our expectations are in check.”
