Hayden Paddon will be driving for a new team when he continues his charge for the FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship crown on Neste Oil Rally Finland from 1-4 August.
Paddon began the season with the Spanish ASM Motosport outfit but switches to the Austrian Baumschlager Rallye & Racing operation for the remainder of his campaign, albeit in a similar Skoda Fabia Super 2000. BRR guided Juho Hanninen to the SWRC laurels in 2011 and is highly regarded, having topped the SWRC category in Finland for the past three years.
“Upon a mutual agreement between ASM Motorsport and Hayden Paddon Rallysport Global Ltd, the remainder of our 2012 SWRC campaign will now be run by BRR,” said Paddon. “We want to thank everyone at ASM for working alongside us and helping us to achieve our current position leading the SWRC.”
New Zealander Paddon and co-driver and countryman John Kennard top the title standings following their dominant triumph on home soil last month. They completed a short test with BRR in Finland yesterday (Sunday).
“We will be doing a small test this Sunday and we will be trying some quite different car set-ups which will be a good learning curve,” said Paddon. “During the past two events, we’ve had to look after our overall championship position, but for this rally there are a lot of fast drivers and we will have to push the whole way, something I’m really looking forward to. There is nothing like being in the heat of a battle.”