Double New Zealand rally champion Hayden Paddon will contest the full P-WRC series this year, after adding two more rallies to the six he will tackle as part of the Pirelli Star Driver scheme.

Paddon, 22, from Geraldine New Zealand, is one of five drivers to win a Pirelli Star Driver (PSD) scholarship this season, and will contest six rallies as part of the FIA-backed young driver scheme.

Four of these events – Finland, France, Germany and Great Britain – also count as rounds of the P-WRC. Which tempted Paddon to put together a deal to contest the full Production series. “With the PSD campaign, we also contest Turkey and Portugal,” explained Paddon. “But as these are not P-WRC events, we will make up the six rounds needed to complete a P-WRC campaign by adding our home event, Rally New Zealand in early May and Rally Japan two months later.”

Paddon and his co-driver, John Kennard, are the only New Zealand team to have entered the 2010 Production World Rally Championship. While in Europe, Paddon will be at the wheel of a left-hand-drive Group N Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X. For the additional P-WRC rounds in New Zealand and Japan, he’ll be back in his Team Green Group N Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX, the car he used to win his place as a Pirelli Star Driver at Rally Australia last year.

“A very exciting year lies ahead for us, and being able to put a full PWRC campaign together, over and above our existing Pirelli Star Driver programme, is a dream come true,” said Paddon. “To think we will be competing in eight of this year’s 13 rounds of the World Rally Championship is massive, but there is a lot of hard work still to be done to ensure we can extend this campaign and be a contender at every WRC event in 2011!”

Being able to compete in a full PWRC calendar means Paddon and the team can begin to put in place the next part of their plan: to work towards winning the Production World Rally Championship title.

“We have a detailed and realistic plan for the next eight years, based on my ultimate goal of making it to the pinnacle of rallying, the WRC. Part of this plan was to win the P-WRC within three years, but after sitting down and analysing our current progress and speed, we believe this is something we can achieve in two years.

“The goal this year is to learn the events – they will all be new events for John and me – but we also want to be competitive and we’re aiming for a podium championship result.”

Double New Zealand rally champion Hayden Paddon will contest the full P-WRC series this year, after adding two more rallies to the six he will tackle as part of the Pirelli Star Driver scheme.

Paddon, 22, from Geraldine New Zealand, is one of five drivers to win a Pirelli Star Driver (PSD) scholarship this season, and will contest six rallies as part of the FIA-backed young driver scheme.

Four of these events – Finland, France, Germany and Great Britain – also count as rounds of the P-WRC. Which tempted Paddon to put together a deal to contest the full Production series. “With the PSD campaign, we also contest Turkey and Portugal,” explained Paddon. “But as these are not P-WRC events, we will make up the six rounds needed to complete a P-WRC campaign by adding our home event, Rally New Zealand in early May and Rally Japan two months later.”

Paddon and his co-driver, John Kennard, are the only New Zealand team to have entered the 2010 Production World Rally Championship. While in Europe, Paddon will be at the wheel of a left-hand-drive Group N Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X. For the additional P-WRC rounds in New Zealand and Japan, he’ll be back in his Team Green Group N Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX, the car he used to win his place as a Pirelli Star Driver at Rally Australia last year.

“A very exciting year lies ahead for us, and being able to put a full PWRC campaign together, over and above our existing Pirelli Star Driver programme, is a dream come true,” said Paddon. “To think we will be competing in eight of this year’s 13 rounds of the World Rally Championship is massive, but there is a lot of hard work still to be done to ensure we can extend this campaign and be a contender at every WRC event in 2011!”

Being able to compete in a full PWRC calendar means Paddon and the team can begin to put in place the next part of their plan: to work towards winning the Production World Rally Championship title.

“We have a detailed and realistic plan for the next eight years, based on my ultimate goal of making it to the pinnacle of rallying, the WRC. Part of this plan was to win the P-WRC within three years, but after sitting down and analysing our current progress and speed, we believe this is something we can achieve in two years.

“The goal this year is to learn the events – they will all be new events for John and me – but we also want to be competitive and we’re aiming for a podium championship result.”