BRC Racing Team and Paddon now second on ERC leaderboard after Round 2

Kiwi rally stars Hayden Paddon and John Kennard faced a gruelling battle in a fiercely competitive field at Rally Islas Canarias, which ran from 2 to 4 May as the second round of the 2024 FIA European Rally Championship.   As the defending ERC champions, Paddon and Kennard were top seed in their BRC Racing-run Hyundai i20 Rally 2 on the 73-car strong entry list for the all-tarmac rally around the island. They started out by winning Thursday evening’s super special stage, a 1.8km sprint around the streets of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria that ended inside a stadium. The intensity of competition was highlighted by the close times throughout Friday’s six special stages. The Kiwis started out the day with the 12th fastest time and improved with each stage to finish Friday in third place, just 12.1 seconds off the day’s leader, Spainard Alejandro Cachón. Paddon described it as a day of two halves. “We were really struggling with handling on the morning loop, then the team did an amazing job to change the setup for the afternoon which gave us a lot more confidence.” With another trio of repeated stages to wrap up the rally, Paddon and Kennard were ready to give it their best shot. However, they were fighting against two very fast French and three Spanish drivers for the final podium positions and didn’t quite have the same pace. The pair finished sixth overall, just over 40 seconds behind the winner, Frenchman Yoan Bonato. Paddon pays credit to BRC and their hard work: “Not the result we wanted but not from a lack of trying, having done the best we could with what we have. We’re just missing some pace to the very fast local drivers. Last year we finished second here, 36 seconds off the leader and this year, we were sixth and only 40 seconds behind the winner. Happy to have moved up to second in the championship, and when we return to the ERC for Sweden in June and Estonia in July, both rallies are on gravel where we’re determined to narrow the points deficit to the championship leader.” Gabriele Rizzo, Team Principal of BRC Racing Team says “As we expected, it was a very tight rally with very small gaps. Three local drivers took away important points from us. It's nothing new to have over 15 riders, at the start of each rally, who can aim for the podium. Extreme competitiveness is one of the strengths of the championship. It was a trouble-free event for us where the performances we provided did not allow us to compete with the fastest. The fact that many competitors, credited with the victory, finished behind us is only a small consolation. As usual we will carefully analyze what we could have done better to improve ourselves for the next asphalt event. However, the points gained have guaranteed us second position in the championship and the main opponents for the title are starting to be clearly defined. Now we have a lot of work ahead of us to present ourselves at our best in the next two gravel rallies that are crucial for our season.” Now with 35 points, Paddon currently trails championship leader Mathieu Franceschi by 21 points and holds a slender two-point lead over third-placed Simone Tempestini.    Paddon’s 2024 ERC event calendar 12-14 April – Rally Hungary (gravel) 2-4 May – Rally Islas Canarias (asphalt) 13-15 June – Royal Rally of Scandinavia, Sweden (gravel) 5-7 July – Rally Estonia (gravel) 26-28 July – Rally di Roma Capitale, Italy (asphalt) 16-18 August – Barum Czech Rally Zlín (asphalt) 30 August – 1 September – Rali Ceredigion, United Kingdom (asphalt) 11-13 October – Rally Silesia, Poland (asphalt)