Paddon and Kennard claim second at WRC Paraguay
Words: Kyle Cassidy
Hayden Paddon and John Kennard have secured their second World Rally Championship podium of the season, finishing runner-up at Rally del Paraguay.
The New Zealand pairing completed the gravel event 25.8 seconds behind Finnish winners Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen. They also finished 14.2 seconds clear of Hyundai Motorsport teammates Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria in third.
It follows Paddon and Kennard’s second-place result at Rally Croatia in April. The Kiwis have shared Hyundai Motorsport’s third i20 N Rally1 with two other crews across selected rounds of the 2026 championship.
“I’m not sure this podium is better than Croatia because of what happened in the second to last stage [red-flagged and not restarted following an accident involving Takamoto Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston] but I feel like we can celebrate it. This feels proper, amazing. Everyone had their issues as we did too and since Friday we’ve been managing that gap to others behind me,” Paddon said.
“There’s certainly more speed there, but it felt unnecessary to deliver that this weekend. We did our job, second is almost as good as a win, particularly with the journey we’ve been on.”
Paddon and Kennard briefly led the rally on Friday as punctures and mechanical problems disrupted several of the leading crews. A controlled drive through the opening four stages left them 23.9 seconds clear at the lunchtime service.
It was the first time Paddon had led a WRC round since Rally de Portugal in 2018.
The New Zealanders suffered their own tyre problems when the stages were repeated that afternoon, dropping behind Pajari. Even so, they ended the opening day in second place, 11.9 seconds from the lead and 44.4 seconds ahead of championship leader Elfyn Evans.
“I think everyone’s had problems, so if we can drive out of two stages on punctures and still be within touching distance, we’ve been unlucky but lucky at the same time,” Paddon said.
Saturday brought nine stages but none of the wet weather that had been forecast. That affected Hyundai’s tyre choice and car set-up, although Paddon and Kennard continued to produce consistent top-five stage times.
They completed the day 24.1 seconds behind Pajari, having maintained a useful margin over the crews fighting for the final podium position.
Paddon said the event also provided valuable time to become more familiar with the Rally1-spec Hyundai.
“The car’s still a little bit foreign to me. There are things technically that could be better for me. The car’s very good on gravel. You’ve only got to look at Thierry and Adrian’s speed on gravel; it’s fast. There’s a little bit of finetuning for my driving style, which is a bit different. I learned a lot about the car this weekend that I didn’t learn in our pre-event test.
“That’s all part of the process. We always knew it would be tough, jumping straight in the car, but probably surprised myself how well we did adjust.”
With a podium within reach, the Kiwi crew took a measured approach to Sunday’s stages. They delivered enough pace to protect second place without exposing the car to unnecessary risk.
“Massive thanks to Hyundai for this opportunity this year, we’ve just absolutely loved it. For our Kiwi supporters and our own PRG team back at home for allowing me to still do this. And of course John, 22 years in the car together. We don’t know what’s next, but this has been one hell of a journey. He’s an absolute legend,” Paddon said.
Paddon will now return to New Zealand for the Ashley Forest Rallysprint on September 19 and 20. He’ll compete in his Hyundai i20 AP4 and is aiming to establish a new hillclimb record.
