As a Marlborough vineyard owner since 2002, John Kennard has long been familiar with the concept of maturing like a fine wine – and he sees the same trait in his business, as well as pleasure.
Kennard combines wining and driving – though in a thoroughly responsible manner – as the right-hand man for New Zealand’s leading rally car racer, Hayden Paddon.
The 55-year-old from Christchurch has worked as Paddon’s co-driver for nine years, a relationship that developed as Kennard was contemplating a slower-paced lifestyle.
He had returned from motorsport-related roles in Europe, Japan and the United States to concentrate on the Vicarage Lane Winery in Blenheim when Paddon and his father Chris made contact.
”Him and his Dad came round. He wanted to step up from club rallying to national championship rallying.
“They knew they wanted to be world champion as well and they knew it was going to be a big road to hoe so rather than just learn all the lessons themselves they got me in,” he recounted to Fairfax Media.
Kennard had certainly gone the extra mile to qualify for a mentoring role that has this year seen the duo compete in the World Rally Championship (WRC) on a semi-permanent basis for Hyundai Motorsport – the latest manufacturer to take on the established Ford and Citroen, plus current pace setter Volkswagen.
Originally a driver, Kennard changed focus from pedals to pace notes in 1985 when he teamed up with Cantabrian Brent Rawstron for that year’s Rally of a Thousand Lakes in Finland – and clearly there was no road rage as the are pair directors of the winery.
Kennard’s affinity with Finland also remains – his partner Satu Lappalaine is from there and the Scandinavian country is one of the winery’s most lucrative markets.
After navigating, Kennard veered off road into management as team co-ordinator for Mitsubishi Japan.
He then had a similar brief with Prodrive’s Subaru World Rally Team before returning to Mitsubishi to oversee the manufacturer’s rally programme in the United States.
Although life in the slow lane appealed when he relocated to Marlborough, Kennard had no hesitation in hitching his wagon to Paddon, who is now in control of a Hyundai i20 WRC car.
”When you work in the business you meet some of the young guys who’ve just got truckloads of money and sometimes they’re not the nicest young kids to know. Hayden’s just a nice kid.”
The 27-year-old from Geraldine is also one of the most driven competitors Kennard has ridden shotgun with.
They joined forces and won the New Zealand Rally Championship in 2008 and 2009 before finishing third in the second-tier Production WRC in 2010.
A year later they won the PWRC title after claiming four consecutive wins a Subaru.
Two years ago Paddon and Kennard finished third in the Super 2000 WRC Championship and in 2013 they made a major breakthrough when making their WRC debut in Spain in a Ford Fiesta – the forerunner to signing for Hyundai.
Paddon and Kennard will contest six of the 13 rounds of the WRC for the Germany-based South Korean manufacturer – on Sunday they recorded their best ever finish of the championship when placing sixth in Rally Australia.
Previously Paddon was 12th on his Hyundai debut in Italy before back-to-back eighth placings in Poland and Finland.
They are not required to occupy the team’s third car in France next month but do head to Europe for the final two legs in Spain and Wales.
Paddon was pleased to finish ahead of Hyundai’s lead driver Thierry Neuville and Citroen’s Mads Ostberg around Coffs Harbour and although the distance between the Kiwi and the top-five was significant, Kennard believes the gap will continue to close.
”He’s made a really good progression, he just keeps moving forward.
”That’s the good thing that’s come out of the last couple of events. Sometimes you plateau a wee bit but the last couple of events he’s lifted the game again.
”Sometimes in your mind you think ‘maybe this is as high as he can lift the bar’ – and he just lifts it another step.”
Kennard has no doubt Paddon will overtake Possum Bourne as New Zealand’s most successful rally driver.
Asked how far Paddon could go he was as forthright as when he issues instructions at high speed: ”All the way, absolutely.
”He’s only done five events in a world rally car – four in the Hyundai. From that point of view it’s a tiny amount of experience to be mixing it with guys in the top five or six in the world.
”Normally you’d expect someone with a year and a half of experience, someone doing 13 events a year to be going that good.
”He’s stepped straight in, taken a couple of events to learn it and then moved on up from there,” he said, before applying the brakes.
”The next bit’s hard, the five guys in front of you are bloody quick. And there’s a gap to them still,” he said, referring to French world champion and back-to-back Rally Australia winner Sebastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala, Andreas Mikkelsen, Kris Meeke and Mikko Hirvonen.
However, with their ages ranging from 25-years-old (Mikkelsen) to 34 (Hirvonen) Paddon still has time on his side.
With the 10th round of the WRC done and dusted off, Paddon has a break until Rally Espana from October 23-26, down time where he can continue negotiating a contract extension.
Hyundai team principal Michel Nandan hoped to finalise his line-up for 2015 next month and until then was coy on Paddon’s future.
”It’s that time of year when everybody talks to everybody,” said Kennard.
”Everybody (at Hyundai) is happy with what Hayden’s doing. From that point of view we can’t do a lot more.”
Meanwhile, although WRC radio suggested last weekend was Kennard’s Rally Australia swansong, he disagreed – although a succession plan involving up-and-coming co-driver Malcolm Reid is in place.
