Paddon says paraguay podium proves 'there's more there'

Here's the thing about : after eight years away from a factory WRC campaign, his return to Hyundai's Rally1 line-up has already yielded two podiums from just four appearances. Following a third-place finish in Croatia that marked his first WRC podium since Rally Australia in 2018, Paraguay brought an even wilder result. At 39 years old, the New Zealander delivered a stunning demonstration that he still belongs right at the sharp end.

It started with pure pace. On his first top-level WRC gravel start since 2018, Paddon and long-time co-driver John Kennard went third-fastest on the opening stage. Then came the chaos of Friday morning, where attrition handed them the lead. They stayed at the head of the rally for three stages before eventual winner took over, but once that happened, Paddon never let go of second place.

Yet this beast of a drive was built on pure judgement rather than blind risk. After tyre dramas on Friday, Paddon realized that trying to match Pajari kilometre-for-kilometre was a fool's errand against the best drivers in the world. Instead, he focused entirely on protecting his position, managing the gaps ahead and behind, and keeping his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 clean in the middle of the road.

“We knew we weren’t going to do it on pace,” Paddon explained to WRC.com. “So it was about managing the gap in front and behind, keeping the pressure on but also keeping the gap behind as well. We just did our own rally, focused on what we were doing and kept it really clean in the middle of the road. We ticked all the boxes.”

Perhaps the craziest part of it all was how comfortable it felt. Even after more than 350 competitive kilometres, finishing just 25.8 seconds behind Pajari, Paddon insists he never had to operate at maximum attack. “Knowing that it was all done at a very safe speed and everything was just working well, there’s more there in the future if we ever get the opportunity,” he said.

Unfortunately, that next opportunity isn't guaranteed right now. Paraguay completed Paddon's four-event WRC programme for 2026, meaning his immediate focus swings back home to New Zealand for domestic events and testing duties with the team. When asked what comes next, he laughed and admitted, “No idea! We have some events back in New Zealand and we’ve got some testing coming up with the team, so we’ll be helping the team towards the future as well. There are a lot of things happening, so we’ll see.”