New Zealand driver Hayden Paddon in a Hyundai during 2026 Rally of Monte-Carlo. Photo: Nikos Katikis / PHOTOSPORT
New Zealand driver Hayden Paddon has finished eleventh in Rally Monte Carlo in what he describes as a humbling experience.
In his first WRC event in seven years Paddon was running as high as seventh in the season opening event, but the winter conditions caught him out.
He left the road on the 12th stage on Saturday and required the assistance of spectators to push his car out of the snow. He lost four minutes in the incident dropping him to 13th.
He managed to climb back up the field on the final day.
"Coming back here after eight years away from the top level of the sport was never going to be easy," Paddon wrote on social media.
"I never thought I would return to this rally - let alone in a Rally1 car.
"This whole experience has been one of the toughest of my life, both mentally and professionally.
"To back yourself, to not run away from the ultimate challenge, and to step back into conditions as demanding as these while learning a new car from scratch has been humbling in every sense.
"We had our setbacks over the weekend, but our clear objective was to get to the end - and we achieved that.
"It feels like a weight has been lifted from the shoulders, and now the focus can shift to building performance and taking the next step at the upcoming events," he said.
Paddon is sharing the third Hyundai Motorsport car this season.
Sweden's Oliver Solberg won the Monte Carlo Rally as champions Toyota started the season with a one-two-three finish in the principality.
The 24-year-old son of Norway's 2003 world champion Petter also became the youngest winner of the event in the championship era.
Welsh teammate Elfyn Evans finished 51.8 seconds behind while Sebastien Ogier, the reigning nine-times world champion and 10-times Monte Carlo winner, was third, a minute and 10 seconds further behind.
Hyundai's Adrien Fourmaux was fourth with Belgian teammate Thierry Neuville fifth.
The next round of the championship is Solberg's home rally in Sweden, on snowy roads and through frozen forests around Umea, from February 12-15.
Paddon is not competing in that event.
-Reuters with additional reporting from RNZ
