Kiwi rally star Hayden Paddon refuses to bow down to three-time world champion Sebastien Ogier over one of the sport’s biggest talking points in 2016.Ogier, who leads the world championship by 51 points heading to next week’s Rally Finland, has been complaining about the starting order or world championship events all season.
Current rules state that championship order dictates the starting order on the first two days of a WRC event meaning Ogier, who has led the championship all season, has been disadvantaged by having to run first on gravel stages, sweeping the way clear for the following cars to have more grip.
Ogier has even threatened to quit the sport should the FIA extend the same rules to a full rally next season.
“It is completely blown out of proportion,” Paddon tells nzherald.co.nz about the ongoing issue. “The only reason it has come to surface so much this year is that you have had one person complaining about it so much.
“He has probably been a bit unlucky in that all the gravel rallies this year have tended to be dry but that is the beauty of our sport. If it had rained he would have had a huge advantage. The tables can turn so quickly.
“We are also about to go into a series of tarmac rallies where it is better to be first on the road and all of a sudden he is going to have an advantage for four or five rallies.”
Ogier won the first two rallies of the year in Monte Carlo and Sweden but hasn’t tasted success since although he has banked consistent results that have seen him take a commanding lead in the championship.