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Hayden Paddon driving his Hyundai i20 N Rally 2 car during Rally Estonia in July 2022.
Hayden Paddon has been forced to withdraw from Rally Estonia after contracting Covid-19.
The Kiwi rally driver was in his first WRC event in three years, but had to pull out after just five stages after testing positive.
It’s another setback and a huge blow to Paddon, who used the rally to work on improving his new Hyundai i20 N Rally2 for a full tilt in next year’s WRC2 championship.
However, Paddon was forced to cut his rally short halfway through the first full day in Tartu and once he recovers, he should turn his attention to his final stage of this journey, at Rally Finland, which starts on August 4.
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When Paddon and his co-driver John Kennard failed to show up at the service park, which is located in the Estonian National Museum after lunch on Friday, the official message was that it was due to a mechanical problem.
However, Paddon later revealed on his Facebook page the real reason for his absence.
RED BULL PHOTOGRAPHY/Included
Hayden Paddon has had another setback in WRC.
“Unfortunately, we have had to withdraw from Rally Estonia,” Paddon wrote.
“Received is an understatement, but we have no choice. I started feeling unwell last night but returned negative Covid tests,” he explained.
“This morning I kept feeling pretty sick and couldn’t concentrate on the stages and riding at all.
“During the afternoon shift, another Covid test was done that gave a positive result. We have now had to follow all Covid protocols which means we are withdrawing from the rally.
“A big thank you to Hyundai NZ for understanding this situation, which is so incredibly ill-timed, especially after dodging Covid over the past two years.
“We will now focus on full health and recovery to give Rally Finland a good boost. I’m sorry everyone.”
Paddon, 35, was slightly behind the pace of the leading WRC2 cars in the four stages he took part in on Friday morning, but this was caused by problems with the set-up of his new car rather than anything else.
He had lost 52.7 seconds to fastest WRC2 entrant Emil Lindholm after five stages and in the quick interview following the completion of what turned out to be his last stage, Paddon said: “Right now just riding, we’re going back to service and see what we can do, back to the drawing board.”
After the first leg of the day, Paddon said: “Not happy. Just have no feeling at all, there are already quite a few traces in it. A little scary to drive like that.” So early in the morning, Paddon was already feeling quite a few Covid symptoms.
The withdrawal from Rally Estonia continues Paddon’s incredible bad luck in WRC.
In 2019, he was given a seat at a few events, in Finland, UK and Australia, with M-Sport in a Ford Fiesta, which he hoped would help him return to a full-time factory team seat at the time. .
However, he crashed during testing in Finland and was unable to participate in the rally.
At Rally GB he spun and stranded his car on the first day and on the second he got two flat tires forcing him to stop again for the day.
Then the Australian event was canceled due to the bushfires that ravaged New South Wales at the time.
His latest foray into the WRC was again plagued by terrible bad luck and he will do everything in his power to turn fortunes in Finland next month.