\u201cWe\u2019re over here for three weeks basically for one rally with all the testing and the tyre preparation, and obviously there\u2019s been a bit of study of pace notes and videos back home over the off-season. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut we actually have no pace notes or anything, so that actually makes it a little bit harder to be able to prepare how you\u2019d like to because you don\u2019t have the information until we actually start the recce.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther than that, just trying to get gelled in with the team and have been in the workshop a couple of times and meeting a whole lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hayden Paddon raced at Monte Carlo during his first WRC stint, which ended in 2018. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Rallye Monte Carlo is famous for its slippery conditions. Asphalt roads commonly sport ice in wintery conditions, necessitating frequent tyre changes.<\/p>\n
The narrow roads up through the Alpes-Maritimes and Hautes-Alpes mean weather shifts are constant, forcing teams to adjust their approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven now, it\u2019s too far away to look at the long-range forecast to have an accurate expectation of what the stages are going to be like,\u201d said Paddon. \u201cThe stages can be full snow, they can be black ice, they can be dry, they can be wet, and they\u2019re changing on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest thing that affects is obviously your tyre choice, and you\u2019ll often find you\u2019re always on a compromised tyre choice. It\u2019s trying to find what\u2019s going to be the fastest combination, which in most cases isn\u2019t necessarily going to be the best combination.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a rally that\u2019s a little bit more tactical, and if the conditions are tricky, it can actually favour our approach, which is not about necessarily pushing, but trying to keep it clean and that can sometimes bring a good result.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2026 Monte Carlo event will tie in the famous Formula 1 circuit, thundering through the streets of Monaco.<\/p>\n
Paddon said their goal is to make as few mistakes as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur mindset going into the rally is simply about trying to be clean and just finish. It\u2019s simply unrealistic to even expect that we can be semi-competitive, and it\u2019s not the target the team have given us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paddon said he works closely with fellow Hyundai drivers Neuville and Fourmaux.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrimarily, the team\u2019s first focus is trying to win the manufacturers\u2019 championship. To do that, everyone\u2019s got to work together, and our role as the third driver is to try and come in and assist. <\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the testing that we do is testing that\u2019s focused around the whole team, not just setting up a car for us. Likewise, when we\u2019re on events, it\u2019s about what data and information can we give our two teammates who are full time. They\u2019re doing all the rounds. So, they\u2019re the ones who are going to be fighting for the championship, and we want to try and help that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Special Stage 1 of Rallye Monte Carlo starts at 4.05am on Friday.<\/p>\n
Nathan Limm<\/a> has been a journalist with Newstalk ZB and the NZ Herald since 2020. He covered the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, hosts The Big League Podcast<\/a> and commentates rugby and netball for Gold Sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019re over here for three weeks basically for one rally with all the testing and the tyre preparation,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[39491,23541,74315,18239,4189,140227,1888,2082,63787,140226,3514,111,139,69,90,110223,74830,16237,140225,84772,1527,7811,213,684,2044,18435,377,140224],"class_list":["post-237623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-39491","tag-blind","tag-carlo","tag-championship","tag-driving","tag-element","tag-first","tag-for","tag-hayden","tag-monte","tag-motorsport","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-paddon","tag-preparation","tag-rally","tag-rallye","tag-ramps","tag-return","tag-since","tag-sports","tag-there","tag-time","tag-tricky","tag-world","tag-wrcs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}