New Zealand duo Hayden Paddon and John Kennard have been crowned 2025 EROAD Australian Rally Champions (ARC) after doing enough in Burnie to seal the title, after finishing third at Buckby Motors Rally Tasmania.
Paddon dedicated the Championship to his countryman, the late Possum Bourne, a seven-time Australian Rally Champion.
Paddon stated Bourne’s rally feats in Australia and around the world was his inspiration to his own rally career.
“A lot of this is for Possum. He was the inspiration over the last couple of years to keep going and to come over and do something he really dominated. It’s pretty cool,” Paddon said.
“We’re so lucky to have so much support. It’s the same support we get around the world and across the ditch here. It’s great that Kiwis embrace this rally championship as well.
“Honestly, I’ve loved it over here. Everyone’s been so welcoming. The rallies have brought new challenges for us, and the competition with the Bates brothers, Scott [Pedder] and Alex [Rullo], has been great. We’ve loved that.
“We’ve done it on a shoestring budget, despite what people might think – it’s been a pretty tight budget. So it’s cool to tick it off the list, and something cool to add to John’s and my CV, and keep building on everything we’ve been doing around the world.”
The third-place finish for Paddon and Kennard capped off what has been an almost-perfect debut season in the championship for the New Zealand duo, claiming four of the six rounds.
As for Harry Bates, it’s been a frustrating year for the three-time ARC champion, however a faultless weekend behind the wheel of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 handed him his first win of the season.
Second place for the weekend was Bates’ Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia teammates Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin.
From the moment they took the outright lead on Saturday, Harry and Taylor never looked back as they charged away from the rest of the field during Sunday’s six stages, producing strong stages – four of which they won – including the Power Stage.
In the lead up to the final stage of the season, Paddon’s Hyundai sustained a blown shock which saw him drop behind Lewis Bates and McLoughlin, however the Kiwi nursed the car home to become champion.
Kennard exclaimed it was “really cool” to win the title.
“It’s great to come to a new championship and do well, especially against a field that is really competitive and at events that are really well run,” Kennard said.
“We really paced ourselves this weekend. We had a good title lead and as we were going through, we wanted to push, but there was too much to risk. We had a good buffer, so we didn’t want to risk it.
“I can tell you though, it was still quite stressful. This is my 20th year as Hayden’s co-driver, so I think it’s really cool that after all these years, we’re still competitive and still winning championships together.”
Paddon wasn’t the only EROAD Australian Rally Championship winners to be decided this weekend. WOLF Production Cup winners Bodie Reading and Brad Jones sealing the title after dominating the Cup category, the third consecutive year that Reading has won Production Cup honours.
ARC Junior Cup winner Jackson Long finished in seventh place outright and won the Subaru WRX Challenge as a result, however it was the ninth-placed Glenn Brinkman who ended up winning the class title following his class runner-up. WRX Challenge rival Andy Van Kann’s co-driver Catherine Saayman claimed the co-driver title for the WRX Challenge.
Making up the final place in the Buckby Motors Rally Tasmania top 10 were ARC 2WD Cup winners,and 2025 Motorsport Australia New South Wales Rally Champions, Tony Sullens and Kaylie Newell.Shane and Sylvie Garner survived a couple of scares throughout the event to claim the ARC 4WD Classic Cup for the year.
Other ARC Cups included Tony Oates claiming the ARC 2WD Classic Cup for Drivers, and West Australian Caleb Ash taking the co-driver title.
The EROAD Australian Rally Championship will reset over a six-month break before the 2026 season begins in Gympie for Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland on 17-19 April.
