Hayden Paddon confirmed yesterday that he will drive a Skoda Fabia S2000 to compete in the SWRC for 2012.

Paddon will be Co-driven once again by John Kennard, their Skoda Fabia shall be ran by ASM Motorsport based in Barcelona, with only one aim. To win! The pair will miss out Monte Carlo, possible due to injures Paddon suffered in a crash a few weeks ago in his Subaru Rally car after crashing into a 200m gouge an broke his collar bone.

The PWRC champion made the announcement yesterday in Auckland. He also has new sponsor Giltrap Group, who distribute Skoda’s in New Zealand. Also the young Kiwi plans to move to Barcelona so as to be able to work close to the team and to cut traveling, as 10 of the 13 WRC events are in Europe.

Paddon said at the conference, ”I am ecstatic about the move to Super 2000; it’s a fantastic opportunity,” he said.
”I was lucky enough to test the Skoda Fabia S2000 in Europe a couple of months ago and it was an incredible car to drive. The S2000 is a full blown racecar and is basically a WRC car without the aero and turbo.”

It’s thought that he is lining up to attract the attention of VW who are part of Skoda, a possible link to the WRC for the kiwi in 2013.