Paddon’s crash landing

Hayden Paddon and John Kennard ended Rally Finland early, after a high-speed accident during Day 2’s morning stages damaged their Hyundai i20 beyond repair

Both Hayden and John emerged from the incident unscathed, but it was a disappointing end to
a rally in which they were chasing their third-consecutive Top-5 finish.

During the second pass of the 14.5km Pihlajakoski stage, the car was entering a fast right-left combination and Hayden cut the right hander by a fraction too much, colliding with an unseen rock.

“The impact broke the steering, and we were passengers as we went into the trees at 150kph,” he said. “The roll itself did not seem so bad, but the first impact extensively damaged the right front corner.”

During their first pass of the repeated stage, the Kiwis recorded the fifth fastest time, less than a second behind two-time WRC champion Sebastien Ogier (France). Making the early exit harder to bear was the fact that John was celebrating both his 30th anniversary and 50th start in the WRC – his first was also in Finland, in 1985.

Hayden said they have already begun looking ahead to Rally Germany.

“We’ve also started planning towards our tarmac test next week, ahead of Rally Germany. Tarmac is a surface we’re not so familiar or comfortable with, so Germany will be a matter of taking a step back, being patient and learning stage by stage.”

Latvala’s record pace

While Paddon sat on the sidelines, local legend and hometown hero Jari-Matti Latvala charged to the fastest-ever win in WRC history.

The flying Finn averaged 125.44kph over the course of the 319.38km event, to claim his third victory on home soil.

He was followed home by his Volkswagen teammate Ogier, who will claim his third-consecutive championship with a good result in Germany.

Norway’s Mads Ostberg rounded out the podium, after his Citroen teammate Kris Meeke (Great Britain) broke his suspension after colliding with a tree.

With a variety of stages ranging from bumpy, narrow vineyard roads, to smooth country lanes, Rally Germany is regarded as the most difficult of the WRC’s asphalt encounters.