Hayden Paddon scored a dominant first European Rally Championship victory of the season as Rali Ceredigion hosted the first major international rally in Great Britain since 2019.
The 2016 WRC Rally Argentina winner was never headed across Rali Ceredigion’s 14 intense Welsh asphalt stages, as he and co-driver John Kennard took their Hyundai i20 N Rally2 to victory by 1m47.3s.
Paddon took the win from ERC regular Andrea Mabellini (Skoda), who snatched second from Paddon’s main title rival Mathieu Franceschi by 3.5s open the final stage.
Paddon took a 14-point championship lead into the event built on top six finishes having struggled to challenge for victories with his Hyundai i20 N package this season.
However, on Wales’ fast, undulating and unpredictable narrow roads the New Zealander and the i20 N clicked from the off. Paddon, a previous winner of the event in 2022, blitzed the qualifying stage by 1.8s to secure the prime road position for Saturday.
Paddon navigated Friday’s two passes of the Aberystwyth super special, held in front of the thousands of fans that had gathered in hot and dry conditions in the coastal town, to take a 1.3s lead over Mabellini.
On Saturday, Paddon made the most of starting first on the road and attacked. The former WRC driver took command of the rally, ending the day’s eight stages, recording seven fastest times. The Hyundai driver led the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 piloted by British Rally Championship title contender Chris Ingram by 1m18.7s, with Franceschi in third, a further 8.7s adrift.
Fellow British Rally Championship regular James Williams was the only driver to deny Paddon a clean sweep of stage wins when he claimed stage three (Brechfa) by 4.2s from the Kiwi to rise to second overall. However, the Welshman’s rally hopes ended on the next test when he clipped a bank and rolled his Hyundai i20 N which prompted a red flag stoppage. Williams and co-driver Ross Whitlock escaped the crash without injuries.
The bright sunshine that dominated Friday and Saturday was replaced by overcast and showers on Sunday which increased the challenge, creating particularly treacherous conditions on the penultimate stage (Bethania, 10.74km).
The leaderboard suffered its first shake-up on stage 11 (Bethania 1, 10.74km). Ingram, who picked up maximum British championship points after topping the class on Saturday, lost the rear of his GR Yaris Rally2 on the entry to a tricky right-hander, resulting in a heavy impact with the stone wall on the exit. While the crew emerged from the scene okay, the car suffered damage to the front and rear, resulting in instant retirement from second spot.
British Rally Championship title contender Keith Cronin also rolled out of fifth overall which forced officials to throw the red flags.
This promoted Paddon’s chief title rival Franceschi to second. The Frenchman had struggled through Saturday morning dropping to sixth overall before climbing to third by the end of the day.
Franceschi’s second position was short-lived after losing out in tricky wet conditions during the penultimate stage. The Skoda driver, running softs, shipped 12.9s to Miko Marczyk on wets which lifted the latter from fourth to second, ahead of Mabellini in third.
Equipped with a healthy lead, Paddon could afford to back off on Sunday and take a cautious approach through the morning’s stages. The Kiwi did however attack on the final Power Stage to seal the victory and maximum five bonus points, with his 10th stage win of the event. Paddon will now take a 27-point lead into October’s final round in Poland.
Marczyk was unable to hold onto second on the final stage as the Pole dropped to fourth overall. Mabellini delivered a strong run to claim second with Franceschi in third.
Ireland’s Jon Armstrong, who suffered a puncture and lost 20s to a spin on Saturday, completed the top five, but was handed a 20s penalty for being late to a time control which dropped the M-Sport driver to sixth behind countryman Callum Devine.
Two-time Ceredigion winner Osian Pryce finished seventh after battling a rally long understeer issue with his Ford Fiesta.
ERC rally winner Simone Tempestini ran as high as third before suffering right rear suspension failure on stage eight.
In ERC Junior, Max McRae took his second class win, driving s Peugeot 208 Rally4 car. In the British Rally Championship, William Creighton took the maximum Sunday points from Armstrong, with Matt Edwards in third.
