Hopes of an epic head-to-head battle between the two former WRC stars were dashed on the rally’s opening stage, when the steering on Paddon’s Escort broke, forcing him to retire from the first day of competition.
Meeke then proceeded to dominate, setting the fastest classic time through all of Saturday’s eight stages, breaking several stage records along the way, and securing an overnight lead of almost a minute and a-half over Buist.
However Sunday morning’s 34km Akatore stage proved the Irishman’s undoing — he and co-driver Noel O’Sullivan first lost intercom contact in the stage, then punctured, and finally suffered a broken stub axle on their Ford Escort BDA. Those dramas cost four minutes, and dropped them behind both Buist and fellow Escort driver Ari Pettigrew (Rangiora).
While Meeke was able to overhaul Pettigrew to take second place at the finish, Buist was too far ahead. He eased his pace a little to be sure of making the finish, and adding the 2025 Otago Classic title to those he has previously won in 2007, 2021 and 2022.
"Someone [Meeke] handed me the lead, and I’m not keen to give it back," admitted Buist heading into the final bracket of three stages. Sure enough, he came home the winner by just over a minute from Meeke, with Pettigrew roughly two minutes further back.
The classic rally’s Sunday action was also enlivened by the return of Paddon, and while no longer in contention for an overall place, the Kiwi ace traded stage wins with Meeke throughout the day, highlighting the battle for outright honours that might have been.
"It’s a shame Hayden struck trouble so early; perhaps we will have to have rematch next year," offered Meeke. Paddon too expressed interest in a possible rematch come 2026.
Behind the top three, Hastings driver Ben Harding (Mazda RX-7) ran home a solid fourth in the classics after a good tussle with Winton driver Stephen Gill (Ford Escort). Rangiora’s Harri Silcock (Toyota Starlet) rounded out the classic top six and won the 1301-1700cc classic division, while his brother, Josh (also in a Starlet), won the 0-1300cc category.
Victory in the Classic 4WD rally went to Christchurch’s Tim Smith, who dominated this component of the event with a hard-charging run in his Subaru Impreza H6.
Paddon's WRC run draws the crowds
Fans by the hundred crowded each of the four spectator points on the rally’s final Kuri Bush stage to witness Hayden Paddon’s demonstration run of his Hyundai i20 world rally car.
Having completed the stage in his classic Ford Escort with co-driver Jarrod Hudson alongside, Paddon headed right back to stage start, teaming up this time with his regular international co-driver John Kennard for their special run.
The pair wowed the crowds as they powered through the stage, lowering the previous 7min 12.8sec record for the 15.05km test (set by the pair in 2023), but falling some three seconds shy of the sub-seven-minute time Paddon also felt was possible.
"The road conditions weren’t quite as good as they were in 2023, with some sections clean-swept [of gravel] and almost like tarmac, but others quite slippery," explained Paddon. "Seeing so many fans out there to watch us was something very special."
By David Thomson
