Paddon wins, Greensmith beaten, Breen out

If Hayden Paddon's 2023 program is mainly focused on the European Championship, he cannot completely abandon his country. Supported by Hyundai New Zealand, he was to be at the start of the Rally of Otago, the nerve center of which is Dunedin, in the south of the South Island, the 35-year-old driver's place of origin. Without a rival to his measure, the current leader of theERC did not provide details. Winner of the 14 special stages contested, he registered his name for the 10^e on the list. Every year, the organizers of the event invite a guest star and this time it was Mikko Hirvonen who was behind the wheel of the famous black Escort RS already used by Ari Vatanen, Juha Kankkunen and Michèle Mouton. Paddon will return to Europe during the Rally Regione Piemonte in Alba (April 15-16). Having never used the i20 Rally2 on the tarmac, he will use this 4^e TER meeting to prepare the rally Canary Islands (May 4-6). There he will perhaps come across Nikolay Gryazin who is constantly looking to increase his experience.

The latter was lined up at the start of the Quattro River Rally Karlovac. Within the Toksport structure which took care of his Skoda, he was accompanied by Fergus Greensmith who also came to accumulate kilometers before Croatia (April 20-23). With their Fabia RS, the two men fought a good battle, the Russian being initially delayed by a 10s penalty for a stolen start. He gradually moved up and ended up passing the Englishman who occasionally teamed up with Chris Patterson, his former co-driver. After more than 115 timed km allowing him to familiarize himself with the very specific asphalt roads, Gryazin won. Among those involved, Mauro Miele, Norbert Herczig, Tom Rensonnet and Eamonn Kelly also made the trip to prepare for Croatia.

When leaving the road on SS1, Craig Breen did not really shine during the 2nd meeting of the Portuguese championship (Photo: Reb Bull)

For his part, Craig Breen experienced a first hitch in his quest for the title of Portuguese champion. The Irishman made a mistake from the opening (SS1) of the Rallye Casinos do Algarve, scoring no points. After his success at Fafe, Breen occupies 4^e place in the championship with 17 points behind Miguel Correia, the leader.