Hayden Paddon

[Steve Boyd]

It seems less when you can watch a car go through for 10 sec...

Very true - especially if you're near the end of a stage and the crew following has caught up some seconds on the car ahead!

[Jarek Z]

Next event for Paddon - Ypres Rally. Entry list is here:
https://www.ewrc-results.com/entries...es-rally-2025/

[Jarek Z]

Hayden Paddon:

"It’s P2 in Ypres - very happy with the weekend and while it’s not the win, it was an enjoyable and close fought battle with Stephane and the locals. Loved the rally and the roads! Big thanks to the BMA team for a faultless car and everyone that made the event possible for us. Big thanks to Jared who did a brilliant job on the notes.

No rest, on a plane tomorrow to prepare for next weeks Rally Queensland - round 3 of the Australian Rally Championship"

Final results:
https://www.ewrc-results.com/results...es-rally-2025/

[Humber]

Story on Down Under motorsport media this week.
I doubt there is the budget available from NZ alone for such a project.

https://speedcafe.com/motorsport-new...usive-details/

[deephouse]

He could reach out to any chinese brand as this seems the right time to do it. He should forget about Hyundai as they are not giving a single fu**.

[Humber]

A Chinese brand in rallying would be highly unlikely.
The Chinese Auto-industry is in a consolidation phase, probably with lean operations & no room for luxuries like motorsport.
https://www.carscoops.com/2025/07/mo...to-extinction/
GWM this year has set up a small department in Australia for adapting their vehicles to Australian conditions.
https://www.drive.com.au/news/holden...-hired-by-gwm/
(With the closure of Holden & Ford & the Japanese brands manufacturing operations in Australia, the engineers went elsewhere to Tesla in the US for example)

Paddon's rallying has had Hyundai New Zealand (a separate operation from big Hyundai) as a cornerstone backer for many years.