‘‘The longer you are away, the more difficult it becomes’’ How Hayden Paddon could race a ‘rental’ at Rally NZ

Toyota Gazoo Racing boss JariMatti Latvala tells David Long the team could bring a ‘rental’ car to next year’s event around Auckland.

Hayden Paddon could find himself in one of the best cars in the world at next year’s Rally New Zealand.

The country’s rally is back on the World Rally Championship calendar in 2022, from September 29 to October 2, for the first time since 2012, but New Zealand’s most well-known driver, Paddon, hasn’t been a fulltime WRC driver since 2018.

However, Jari-Matti Latvala, a former winner of Rally NZ and now team principal at Toyota Gazoo Racing, says there could be a rental car available.

‘‘We’ve said that for the first six months of the championship we can only go with the four cars,’’ Latvala said. ‘‘It’s already a big task to have four cars at Monte Carlo (in January). But we have been looking that we have an option next year with our second team, Next Generation Gazoo Racing, that we can have a second car on that team.

‘‘We haven’t decided anything with that, but we have an option in the second half of the season, that we could have a second car. At this point, I can’t say more than that.’’

When asked how the team would decide who got to drive in the extra car, Latvala said it would be rented out.

Having Paddon in a competitive car would be massive for the event and increase the coverage the rally would get in New Zealand.

But Latvala, who won 18 WRC rallies, warned that it wouldn’t be easy for Paddon to compete again in a WRC event after three years away.

The Geraldine-born driver attempted to make it back into WRC in 2019, but twice suffered from horrendous luck, when driving for M-Sport Ford on a shortterm deal.

In Rally Finland he hit a rock placed on the road in testing which destroyed his car. He then planned to drive at Rally Australia, but the event was called off because of bush fires.

‘‘I know Hayden pretty well, we’ve been racing together and he was a really fast driver.

He won the Rally Argentina back in 2016,’’ Latvala said.

‘‘I must say he was very unlucky with the rallies he was planning to do.

‘‘At Coffs Harbour there was the bush fire and at Rally Finland there was an accident before the race.

‘‘When I finished my career in 2019, I did Rally Sweden in 2020, but then after that I haven’t been driving any more in the World Rally Championship.

‘‘The fact is that when you don’t do the rallies, for sure, you never lose the skills, but I would say you lose the routine and that little touch you need to feel the grip and push the car to the limits.

‘‘The longer you are away, the more difficult it becomes and if you try to come back after a long break, you really need good testing beforehand.

‘‘You need to be able to test for a minimum of two days, but I would say four days really to get the speed.

‘‘... it’s really difficult to come back, but it is possible and the preparation needs to be really good.

‘‘If Hayden does Rally NZ, the testing is important.’’

‘‘I know Hayden pretty well, we’ve been racing together and he was a really fast driver. He won the [2016] Rally Argentina.’’ Toyota Gazoo Racing principal Jari-Matti Latvala