Kiwi rally ace Hayden Paddon is determined to make the most of his return to the World Rally Championship this weekend.
The Kiwi driver has taken a back seat for the Hyundai team this year, as they rotate drivers through the season.
But he's back in the hot seat at Rally de Portugal, as part of an expanded four-car Hyundai presence.
Paddon hasn't raced on the world circuit since February, when he and British co-driver Seb Marshall finished fifth overall, taking out two stages in the process.
- Paddon raring for gun start to 2018 WRC season at Rally Sweden
- Kiwi WRC driver Hayden Paddon finishes fifth at Rally Sweden
This will be Paddon's seventh tilt at the Portugal event. Last year, he took four stage wins, including two on the final day, but finished 29th after mechanical failures on the opening leg.
That was also Marshall's first appearance in the passenger seat, replacing Paddon's previous partner John Kennard.
The previous year, Paddon and Kennard crashed out in a fiery blaze on stage two.
"If we can regine what we did last year, coupled with good road position, then anything is possible," said Paddon.
“First and foremost, the target is to have a good, clean rally. I think a podium has to be the target for each and every event we do this year, but we have to be smart in how we set out to achieve that.
“We’ll just focus on day by day to put a solid event together. I enjoy Rally Portugal, but a good result has eluded us here in the past.”
This year's 358km course is a virtual carbon copy of 2017.
"That's a little easier in terms of prep," he said. "We just need to refine the pace notes, but at the same time, you know the speed will also be a lot higher as everyone knows the stages just as well as we do."
Since his last WRC outing, Paddon has contested - and won - the Rally of Otago and Rally of Whangarei domestically.
"While our New Zealand events have been very successful and I feel like I'm back, I'm also under no illusion that it's a different kettle of fish at the elite level and three months out of the car is a gap I have to bridge quickly," he told WRC.com.
Paddon rejoined the Hyundai Motorsport for a pre-event test in Sardinia last week and said it was good to be back in his in his Hyundai i20 with Marshall.
"We had a great feeling in the car with a slightly different setup direction," he said. "We're now working hard to translate that onto the rally this week, where stage conditions can vary quite a lot between first and second pass, tending to become a bit rougher.
Newshub.
