Seven-time New Zealand Rally Championship winner Hayden Paddon has stormed to a dominant win in the International Rally of Whangarei for a staggering 9th time in his career.

Paddon, in his Hyundai i20N Rally2, beat Ben Hunt (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo) by four minutes and 42 seconds to take out the winner-takes-all FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship for the second time in his career.

He won every stage of the event to underline his dominance.

It wasn’t all bad news for Hunt however, his second place enough to secure a third New Zealand national championship after Paddon missed the opening round at Otago.

Dylan Thomson finished a brilliant third in the older generation Subaru Impreza after holding off a charging Emma Gilmour (Citroen C3 Rally2) on Sunday.

Gilmour followed Paddon and Hunt home in the Asia Pacific Championship.

Bryn Jones put his best ever drive together to secure a comfortable victory in the 2WD class in his Ford Fiesta Rally4, while father Anthony Jones won the Historic class.

WRC rally winner Hayden Paddon leads the International Rally of Whangarei by two minutes and 38 seconds over two-time New Zealand rally champion Ben Hunt.

Paddon won all of the day’s 10 stages to take a commanding lead and have control of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship winner-takes-all finale in the process.

Hunt is on track to win a third national title if he can maintain second place throughout Sunday’s seven stages. Emma Gilmour (Citroen C3 Rally2) pipped Dylan Thomson for third place – Thomson running an older generation Subaru Impreza.

A number of leading contenders ran into trouble in a drama-filled day.

Talented teenager Zeal Jones slid off the road in the second stage of the day in his Skoda Fabia R5, while Robbie Stokes crashed his Ford Fiesta AP4 on stage three.

Jack Hawkeswood (Toyota GR Yaris AP4) had to replace an axle and was a temporary withdrawal, while Mike Young (Toyota Yaris AP4) suffered electrical failure late in the day while running third.

All three re-joined for the two passes through Pohe Island Super Special late in the day.

Bryn Jones (Ford Fiesta Rally4) is the leading 2WD competitor, in front of father Anthony Jones (Ford Escort Mk2), who is the first of the Historic entrants.

The rally continues on Sunday with seven more stages south of Whangarei.

A world class performance by rising Kiwi rally star Zeal Jones has seen him secure a place in the final for the Toyota World Rally Team’s “WRC Challenge Program”.

Jones secured a top spot after an exhausting series of assessments by rally icons Mikko Hirvonen and Jouni Ampuja. Six made it through the semi-finals held in Japan and a seventh driver – who qualified by winning the Morizo Challenge Cup – will now prepare for the final shoot-out in Finland in December.

All will be tested physically and have their skills on ice and snow evaluated before one is signed up for the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program as a Generation 4 driver.

“It was genuine relief when I found out I had secured a spot,” explained the impressive youngster. “I wasn’t overly pleased with my runs, so I wasn’t sure at all until they announced the result an hour after we finished, especially as the gymkhana-style evaluation was a familiar format to the other drivers.

“However, after making the semi-finals, we were told the results wouldn’t just be based on times like the quarter-finals so I left it all out there and just tried my best to demonstrate to the judges that I can be an all-round driver capable of more than this style of racing, which the instructors acknowledged.

“ The gymkhana-style course was challenging for me as I’ve never done that style of racing. Being in New Zealand, we are blessed with the best roads in the world, even the instructors told me that.”

“With the incredible opportunities I’ve had so far in my career, I’ve been able to advance quickly through the New Zealand rallying ranks, kind of skipping the entry-level learning, which is autocross and gymkhanas. In Japan, this style of racing is more prevalent, especially on the tarmac, so some of the boys had done the same track but in a different configuration in previous trials when TOYOTA GAZOO Racing were on their search for Generation 3 drivers last year.”

Before heading to Japan, Zeal had undergone an intensive day of preparation behind the wheel of Toyota’s GR models under the expert tuition of Kaleb Ngatoa, and he was in no doubt about the value.

“That preparation with TGRNZ proved vital and probably pivotal for me as without the training on track in the GR range with Kaleb, I wouldn’t have been able to apply my skills nearly as well,” he added.

“We were in the GR Yaris, which was as expected. However, they trialled us in an automatic and no use of paddle shift.

This made the circumstances different to what I tested in New Zealand with the manual car.

“It made it difficult to use the power so I had to adapt. It’s now eyes forward to the final and I have to thank all of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing NZ team for their support. When it comes to supporting young drivers like myself wanting to succeed, they go the extra mile.”

Only open to Japanese drivers, Zeal’s mother is Japanese making him eligible to compete. He is the youngest driver ever to become the NZRC Rally Challenge Champion, and is the 2024 New Zealand Rally Junior Champion.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing New Zealand Motorsport Manager Nicolas Caillol was delighted with Zeal’s progress on the world stage, commenting: “We are very proud of his achievement in making up to the final trip to Finland. “We had a hunch he might be pretty good but he is already exceeding everyone’s expectations. He fits perfectly with our philosophy of Finding New Zealand’s Next World Champion and we’re eager to develop and nurture talent like his to provide TOYOTA GAZOO Racing New Zealand globally the best talent from New Zealand.”

The world’s greatest ever rally driver, Frenchman Sébastien Loeb, and New Zealand’s most successful rally driver Hayden Paddon are the latest stars confirmed for next year’s Race Of Champions (ROC) event in the Accor Stadium in Sydney Olympic Park from March 7-8.

Loeb won no less than nine consecutive World Rally Championships and will be chasing his fifth Champion of Champions ROC title at Accor Stadium in Sydney. Not only did Loeb win nine WRC crowns, he also holds the record for the most WRC event wins (80), most podium finishes (120) and stage victories (939).

Last year, Hayden Paddon became the first non-European to be crowned European Rally Champion and he backed up that effort when he recently clinched back-to-back titles for Hyundai securing the 2024 ERC Title in the final event in Poland.

“To be part of the Race Of Champions and especially represent the first Team NZ in ROC is a dream come true for me,” said Paddon.

“I’ve been watching the Race Of Champions every year since my hero Colin McRae won ROC in Gran Canaria, always hoping that one day I would be invited to compete.

“It’s a true honour to be able to represent New Zealand and compete against some of the best of the best. New Zealand has always proudly punched above its weight in world motorsport and this will be a chance for myself and my teammate, whoever that ends up being, to really fly the Kiwi flag on the world stage.

“I hope many New Zealand fans will join me in Sydney now that this unique event is coming to this part of the world for the first time. March cannot come soon enough.”

Paddon is regarded as one of the most proactive and fan-friendly competitors in local and world rallying and will be chasing his eighth national title in the International Rally of Whangarei from November 8-10.

ROC Sydney will be the first time that New Zealand has a team competing in the ROC Nations Cup and Paddon’s teammate will be announced in the lead up to the event.

The announcement of Loeb and Paddon comes after the recent confirmation of a German “super team” of Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher for next year’s showcase Sydney event, which will also include seven-time Australian Supercars champion Jamie Whincup and many other superstars from around the world.

The Race Of Champions will run over two nights with a purpose built 1 kilometer tarmac track taking centre stage at Accor Stadium, Sydney’s Olympic Stadium.

Loeb currently drives in the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) for Dacia, finishing second in the recent Rallye du Maroc in his first event for the team.

He has also been a regular starter in the grueling Dakar Rally since 2016 and finished second in the event in 2017, 2022 and 2023 before finishing third this year.

Further proving his versatility, Loeb joined the World Touring Car Championship with Citroen Total in 2014 and during two seasons finished with six wins and 20 podiums, finishing third in the title chase both years.

Loeb’s impressive record at the Race Of Champions includes being crowned the individual Champion of Champions no less than four times. His first triumph came at Gran Canaria in 2003, defeating Marcus Grönholm in the Grand Final. He repeated the feat in Paris at the expense of Tom Kristensen (2005) and at London’s Wembley Stadium in 2008 against David Coulthard. Then he pulled off another overall victory in 2022 at ROC Sweden after beating Sebastian Vettel in the final.

Once again, Kiwi rally stars Hayden Paddon and John Kennard have done something no other New Zealanders have done in world motorsport by winning their second FIA European Rally Championship title in Poland on 13 October.  

Their success also earned the teams’ championship title for their Italian-based team, BRC Racing Team, which has run their Hyundai i20 Rally2 car for their two ERC seasons.  

The eighth and final ERC round, Rally Silesia, took place in southern Poland on asphalt over the weekend of 11 to 14 October.  

Having won the previous ERC event in Wales, plus Rally Bay of Plenty back home in New Zealand, Paddon came into the ERC final with a clear goal of a top five finish. This would secure the championship title regardless of where Mathieu Franceschi, who held second on the drivers’ championship leaderboard, finished.  

All started well for the Kiwis on Friday with the fourth quickest time in qualifying which meant they started in P4, exactly where Paddon wanted to be for road position. They followed that up with a third quickest time around the 1.85km super special stage in Katowice on Friday evening.  

For Saturday’s eight challenging stages in sunny, dry conditions, Paddon’s plan was to keep a good pace with no risk but with the car working really well, Paddon’s comfortable pace delivered five stage wins and an overnight lead of 6.8 seconds ahead of Italian driver Andrea Mabellini.  

“To be leading was more than we expected,” said Paddon on Saturday evening. “Everything felt really good in the car which made our job easier, and we were able to push without taking any risks. However tomorrow will be a different story with the possibility of wet weather.”  

Sunday’s action started in fine weather but with rain expected, most competitors ran a mix of tyre compounds. Rain started on SS11 and road conditions were variable, and rain continued through to the power stage on SS14.  

“When the rain set in, it made things very challenging. We had a few little moments, scares and a couple of spins which was a bit of a reality check. We’re here with one goal, to win the championship so had to dial it down a bit to make sure we cruised through the last stage to get home and wrap up the championship.  

“Overall, it’s been a great yet challenging weekend, to bring home the championship in such tricky conditions. It’s been a rally of two halves with dry conditions on day one when everything felt so good in the car. Then today’s challenging wet and windy conditions when we had to rein things in and keep our goal in mind.  

“Obviously I’m very proud of everyone involved: everyone at BRC Racing Team, John, our team back home, to secure a second ERC title, particularly after the first half of the season when we were looking like we were on the back foot. It felt like a tall order to try and win the championship this year but we never gave up and the team dug really deep. We were able to find something in the latter part of the year that really helped us click with the car and brought us back into play for the championship.  

“Overall, it’s been a very tough season mentally to make sure we got through and got all the points we could. We never stopped working on the consistency side of things. But yes, I’m very proud. It’s more than we expected and a relief to get that over the line.”  

As well as the first non-European to successfully win consecutive ERC titles, Paddon is the first successful ERC title defender since Polish driver Kajetan Kajetanowicz in 2016.  

Paddon now returns home for the final round of the New Zealand Rally Championship in Whangarei on November 8th to 10th.  

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