Rally Mexico too hot for Paddon

Hayden Paddon and John Kennard struggled to gain traction at Rally Mexico, after breaking their Hyundai’s front suspension on Day 2 and battling high temperatures and altitude

The pair started strongly, finishing tenth in the opening stage on Thursday night. They continued posting fast times during the following morning’s first two stages, before a minor driver error proved to have big consequences.

“The road was very slippery, and we made a small mistake near the beginning of the stage,” said Paddon. “We touched the bank on the outside, which resulted in one of the suspension uprights breaking. We didn’t have the part we needed to fix it, so that was the end of our day.”

The pair re-joined the race under Rally 2 – which allows drivers who retire from an event to continue and compete for World Championship points, at the cost of a five-minute time-penalty – on Saturday and were first out of the blocks in the morning.

The fresh, undisturbed gravel put them at an immediate disadvantage because of its slipperiness. On top of that, the altitude and high temperatures combined to suck power from their Hyundai i20, choking up to 60hp from the engine.

A string of Top-10 stage times helped the Kiwis advance up the standings from 27th to finish 17th overall. It was a disappointing result, following the pair’s successful start to the season at Rally Sweden, where they came in 5th to earn their best-ever WRC finish.

“Despite the outcome, we’ve come away feeling upbeat for Rally Argentina, especially after some small improvements with my driving technique today,” said Paddon. “Even though this wasn’t the result we wanted, it only makes us want to dig deeper and improve – especially when we know we can be closer to the front.”

Rally Argentina starts on April 23 and combines fast-flowing valley roads with narrow mountain tracks and wide river crossings.