Paddon 2018 WRC program finalised

Hayden Paddon is set to compete in seven World Rally Championship rounds next year in a Hyundai entry shared with Dani Sordo.

The signing of Andreas Mikkelsen meant that Hyundai Motorsport had four contracted drivers for its three cars for 2018.

Mikkelsen and 2017 runner-up Thierry Neuville will pilot two of the team’s i20 Coupes for all 13 rounds, while Paddon and Sordo are set for seven starts each.

A fourth car is planned for Rally de Portugal to ensure that the New Zealander and Spaniard participate in an equal number of rallies.

“I am treating the 2018 season almost like a fresh start after our difficulties from last year,” said Paddon at the season launch.

“I want to put that behind me and use the positives from our podium results to spur us on to achieve what I know we are capable of.

“We will make the most of all seven events this year; being gravel rallies, these are all events that are strong for us and we have good experience of – other than Turkey, which will be new for everyone.

“We have nothing to lose, so we will be going all out on these events to fight for podiums and get that edge back. Also by doing more events in second half of the year, it means we will also have an advantageous road position for most events.”

Sordo will steer car #6 for the season opening Rallye Monte-Carlo on January 25-28.

See below for a full list of planned starts for Hyundai’s four crews.

Car num	Driver/Co-driver	Rallies
4	Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jæger	All
5	Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul	All
6	Dani Sordo/Carlos del Barrio	1 Monte-Carlo, 3 Mexico, 4 Corsica, 5 Argentina, 6 Portugal, 9 Germany, 12 Spain
6	Hayden Paddon/Seb Marshall	2 Sweden, 6 Portugal, 7 Italy, 8 Finland, 10 Turkey, 11 Great Britain, 13 Australia