He is the youngest driver to ever win a round of the New Zealand Championship.

Paddon (Mitsubishi Evo 8) finished 24.4 seconds ahead of Australian Cody Crocker (Subaru), who took out the maximum points in his quest to retain his Asia Pacific title. 

Palmerston North’s Sam Murray (Subaru) finished in third place overall 54.9s behind the winner. 

In the Asia Pacific race Crocker finished 2m 43s ahead of Hiroshi Yanagisawa (Japan, Subaru) with Rifat Sungkar (Indonesia, Subaru) third a further 6m 43s back. 

For Crocker it was mission accomplished as he now leads the Asia Pacific Championship with the next round on home turf in Canberra in three weeks. 

“After missing the first round of the Asia Pacific Championship we just had to get maximum points here,” Crocker said. “I could not let myself get caught up in the battle for overall honours. I had to keep focussed on the APRC. In that way it was a really, really good day for us. Overall it’s a great rally and this is an awesome car to drive. 

“I have to take my hat off to these young guys. We were only about 12 seconds behind after the morning and I thought I might be able to make that up. Then with a stage to go I saw it was 30 seconds. They were really quick.” 

In the New Zealand Championship Paddon finished clear of Murray with Stewart Taylor (Hawkes Bay, Mitsubishi) third 3m 13s behind the winner. 

With victory Paddon now assumes the lead in the New Zealand Championship on 102 points ahead of Murray on 88 with defending champion Richard Mason slipping back to third. 

“I am completely rapt with the result. It will take a while to wipe the smile off our faces,” Paddon said

“It’s a huge credit to our team and sponsors.  “I am really surprised that I was able to beat Cody as he is a world class rally driver. I think the bar has been raised now and there are a lot of drivers going really quickly.” 

His experienced co-driver John Kennard paid tribute to the 20-year-old. The thing I was most impressed with was that he did his own notes for the first time. Then he went out and drove absolutely flat out and did not get one thing wrong.” 

Paddon started the day trailing Crocker by 12.2s. The young Kiwi went on the charge with the Australian again forced to sweep the gravelled roads as the first car away and with pressure to ensure he takes maximum APRC points after missing the first round.  

The New Zealand drivers Paddon, Murray, Emma Gilmour and yesterday’s super-quick Dean Sumner (Rotorua) dominated today. Sumner was fastest in three stages, Paddon in two, with Emma Gilmour and Dylan Turner each taking fastest times. 

It also proved eventful with a further 12 retirements today on top of 18 yesterday. The major incident was Gilmour who followed her fastest time in SS11 by going off the road in SS12 and down a bank. She required assistance and was taken to hospital but released later. Several cars stopped to assist which forced the stage to be stopped. 

Earlier Whangarei teenager Kirsty Nelson went out when her car caught fire, while Mason lost his championship lead when he went off the road on SS12 and then stopped to check on Gilmour while Turner dented his strong performance when he rolled in the penultimate stage. 

Provisional overall results, Hella International Rally of Whangarei: 

Hayden Paddon – John Kennard (Geraldine, Mitsubishi) 2h52m09.0s, 1; Cody Crocker – Ben Atkinson (Australia, Subaru) at 24.2s, 2; Sam Murray – Rob Ryan (Palmerston North, Subaru) at 54.9s, 3;Hiroshi Yanagisawa – Tadashi Misaizu (Japan, Subaru) at 3:07.4, 4;Stewart Taylor – Warwick Searle (Hawkes Bay, Mitsubishi) at 3:13.3, 5;Nathan Thomas – Richard Kelly (Wellington, Mitsubishi) at 3:30.3, 6;Callum McInnes – Linda Loughlin (Tauranga, Subaru) at 4:29.1, 7;Rifat Sungkar – Herkusuma Mohamad (Indonesia, Subaru) at 10:00.0, 8;Jean-Louis Leyraud – Bill Hayes (New Caledonia, Subaru) at 10:16.6, 9; Brian Green – Fleur Pedersen (Palmerston North, Mitsubishi) at 12:23.1, 10.