Paddon thought he would lose to Ogier

Hayden Paddon a offert à Hyundai Motorsport sa seconde victoire en WRC, the first for the new i20 WRC, by winning at Rally of Argentina against Sébastien Ogier. This success was not easy to achieve for the New Zealander. Although he had a half-minute lead over the three-time world champion, he only had two seconds left at the start of the Power Stage after a strong comeback from the Volkswagen driver.

" I can not believe it ! I didn't think we were going to be able to resist.", commented Hayden Paddon who celebrated his first WRC victory and took second place in the Championship. “I was far from confident before El Condor (the Power Stage) but I did the best I could and only made one small mistake. It's incredible to win a rally by attacking at the limit against the best driver in the world. »

The New Zealander notably lost part of his lead by being slowed down by fog and stalling twice in SS16. “It wasn’t worrying. The conditions were the same for everyone, but it was really hard to ride to the top of the hill in such fog. We couldn't see the front of the car. (In the following stage), we lost 20 seconds and the confidence was no longer there. I forgot the result and I took advantage of the special, but I attacked more than necessary”, recognized the winner.

“I didn't want to finish second but I was in the No. 20 and I wasn't scoring points for the first team. I ran over stones but the car held on”, concluded Hayden Paddon.

Discover the analysis of the Rally Argentina carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2060 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.