Kiwi flier Hayden Paddon on podium in Poland with Hyundai in latest WRC round.
Hayden Paddon and John Kennard have secured third place at Rally Poland in their new generation Hyundai i20 World Rally Car.
Third place in Poland represents the third podium finish in the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship for the New Zealanders who finished second in Sweden and won outright in Argentina. The result moves Paddon into third place in the WRC drivers' championship and strengthens Hyundai Motorsport's second place in the manufacturers' standings.
"It obviously got pretty close there at the end," Paddon added referring to Hyundai Motorsport team-mate Thierry Neuville finishing a mere 0.8 seconds behind in fourth. "Our objective today was to secure third position rather than push for second, so we wanted to be relaxed. I think we probably eased off too much. Third is a great result, irrespective of how close it was - just 0.8 seconds!"
"We're really happy to come home with a podium," said Paddon who finished just 2.3 seconds behind Ott Tanak.
The seventh WRC round of the year concluded with a wet and slippery morning of action on Sunday, in contrast to the warm, sunny summer conditions of the previous three days.
"They were very, very tricky conditions and it was very hard to judge your speed," Paddon said, having set the fifth quickest time in all four Sunday stages. "The rain made the stages very slippery and overall today was tricky, having to try and control the position, but in the end we got good points and got the result."
Are you ready to rumble? The Fight for Victory gets underway at Bowater Hyundai and Isuzu and your invited.
This November 5th will see the Trafalgar Centre rumbling to the familiar sound of excitement as the 3rd round of the Victory Boxing annual Fundraiser gets underway.
Bowater Hyundai and Isuzu have stood behind this awesome community event since the start, when our very own Chris Bowater, CEO of Bowater Hyundai and Isuzu, stepped into the ring with the then Mayor of Nelson, Aldo Miccio. It was an inspirational fight and much sweat was left on the canvas as these two stepped up and gave it all that they had.
It was only fitting then that Bowater Hyundai and Isuzu host the launch event for Victory Boxing's Fight for Victory 3 at their central city showroom on the corner of Rutherford and Hardy St on Friday 8th July from 5:30 - 7:30pm.
The new Hyundai Elantra has arrived at Bowater Hyundai and looks amazing.
The all new Hyundai Elantra evolves the company’s global best-seller, drawing together a comprehensive array of leading technologies designed to work with the driver and enhance the enjoyment, comfort and safety of all occupants.
Hyundai New Zealand General Manager Andy Sinclair says the Elantra, launched this week, offers customers who prefer a sedan a sleek and stylish option that features excellent driving dynamics and refinement.
“Because the Kiwi lifestyle is so diverse, we tend to use our vehicles in many more ways – so it’s always been important for us to offer the full range of cars and SUVs. The Elantra is an exciting evolution of our worldwide best-seller, a car that is well suited to city driving and the open road,” he said.
Hayden Paddon scores an epic win and makes NZ motorsport history
All of us here at Bowater Hyundai are right behind Hayden Paddon on his quest to become a WRC World Champ. When we met him in 2015 for our event at Pro Karts we were collectively so impressed by his entire way of looking at things, so are not surprised to see him making such huge strides in a such a competitive motorsport.
Here is his report on his historic win, in his own words.
Well I'm sure you are all well aware of the outcome of Rally Argentina, a weekend that I will forever remember! But it doesn't only stand out as it was our first WRC victory, but also because of the fashion of how we won the rally - going to head to head with triple world champion, Sébastien Ogier. It was what I would sum up as a perfect weekend from start to finish – winning Shakedown, winning 5 stages, winning the power stage and of course the outright event by 14 seconds.
Going into the weekend, we were playing down our chances, as the traditionally rough roads and challenging conditions have not been a favorite in the past. However after the pre-event recce, it became clear that 75% of the new stages this year were a lot faster than normal, and with Sunday as an exception, the stages were also smoother.
Adding to this, Shakedown went very well. As we did not test prior to this event (our team mates both did testing in Europe between Mexico and Argentina which we opted to miss in turn for more testing for the European events) – we used the first run to run the same setup as we finished Mexico as a base. After a return to service, we bolted on the new suspension, which had different settings and immediately we went fastest on the second and third runs – the car was feeling and working better.
But even after all this, we remained grounded for the weekend ahead, with the same goal in mind – to have a clean rally and a top 5.
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