WRC driver Hayden Paddon.
Paddon was a surprise call-up for FIA World Rally Championship powerhouse Hyundai this year to contest a part-time program.
Even more surprisingly was putting Paddon in for Monte Carlo, a notoriously tough rally and one with bad memories for the New Zealander.
During the opening stage of the 2017 Monte Carlo Rally, Paddon hit black ice and slid off the road. His car rolled, and a spectator was killed.
Until this year, Paddon had not competed at Monte Carlo since that fatal accident.
“Honestly, I’ve dreaded coming back to this event over the last six weeks since I got the call,” said Paddon.
“I never wanted to come back to this place, but it was obviously an amazing opportunity and I’ve loved it.
“From this, I think I can move forward now, it’s like a weight off my shoulders. To be fair, I probably should have come back here eight years ago.
“I thought I moved on but when I got told I was coming back. This has been the most challenging six weeks of my life, but I’m a professional and I knew what my job was to do.”
Hayden Paddon during Rally Monte Carlo.
In tough conditions, Paddon and Kennard finished the 2026 Monte Carlo Rally just outside of the top 10 in 11th.
They had run as high as seventh before going off the road and into a snowy paddock on SS12. Spectators helped push Paddon back onto the road to resume the rally.
“We got to the finish which was obviously the first objective,” said Paddon.
“I knew it was going to be a big learning process, and the conditions made that learning process a lot harder than it should have been.
“Sometimes we had some good splits, less than a second a kilometre off the times of our teammates, so there were a few positives but we didn’t put it together consistently enough over the weekend. Conditions were very hard to be learning the car as well.”
Monte Carlo represented the first competitive outing for Paddon in a current Rally1-spec car.
The last time he competed in the WRC at the top level was 2018.
“The conditions were tougher than what everyone expected and it didn’t get any easier as the rally went on,” Paddon explained.
“The margin for error was very small, knowing our job was to finish the rally.
“Driving was a balancing act which I struggled to get right. But it’s Monte Carlo and you’ve got to remind yourself you’ve very lucky to be here.”
Overall, the rally was won by Toyota’s Oliver Solberg. Second went to teammate Elfyn Evans, who wound up 51.8s behind while Sebastien Ogier made it a Toyota podium lock-out in third.
Paddon’s full program for the remainder of the year is still to be announced.
