A minor problem with the fuel feed to the engine of his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo slowed the former production class world champion on the rally's opening special stage, but once that was sorted he was all but unstoppable in his high-speed race to a crushing 4min 25sec victory over defending champion Richard Mason.
Slideshow: Rally of Otago
He was fastest through no fewer than 13 of the 16 special stages, setting several record times along the way. Aside from the stage one glitch, the only point at which he did not look utterly dominant on the rally's opening day was on the tarmac super special stage, which he elected to contest on regular gravel rally tyres, in a crowd-pleasing sideways style, rather than on more effective tarmac tyres fitted by his leading rivals.
Despite having his pace blunted by a niggling turbo problem he was equally impressive on yesterday's second leg, extending his overnight lead and winning all but one of the day's stages.
''It's nice to be winning again after a tough 12 months,'' Paddon said, reflecting on his Otago win coming after a challenging 2012 in rallying's super 2000 world championship.
''We had a few small issues to keep us on our toes, but really it has been a pretty good rally for us.''
Otago Rally 2012 winner Mason's bid to give Paddon a serious run for top honours was thwarted by two punctures on Saturday's opening leg of the rally. The first came when his Subaru Impreza WRX clipped a rock on the demanding Dansey's Pass stage. The second came just two stages later, on the Razorback Rd stage, inland from Hampden.
''The car was a bit of a handful on Saturday, and once Hayden had got his break on us, we decided to use Sunday as a glorified test session to try and sort it out,'' Mason explained. Even so he was well-pleased with second place and, with it, a solid haul of national championship points.
Those points may prove critical to his title aspirations later in the season, as Paddon is likely to miss one or more championship rounds, due to world rally championship commitments. Mason's niggles were nothing compared to those that struck several other top seeds over the weekend. Fancied Coromandel driver Alex Kelsey tipped his Impreza on its side on the first stage, and was out for good, after crashing again five stages later.
Aucklander Andrew Hawkeswood was sidelined after a stone damaged the engine of his Audi Quattro in Dansey's Pass. Christchurch hopeful Matt Jansen retired his Mitsubishi with an engine problem just 400m into the first stage.
Looking to win the Otago event for a record-breaking fifth time, Timaru's Chris West was forced out of the first day, with a front differential fault. He completed the second leg, earning bonus championship points.
The demise of so many fancied runners provided Ben Hunt with a chance to shine: stepping up from the two-wheel-drive Ford Fiesta he drove in 2012 to the turbo 4WD Impreza WRX campaigned by Emma Gilmour last year, the Nelson driver ran home strongly to secure third overall and the first podium finish of his national career.
''Starting out the rally my aim was simply to complete as many kilometres as possible,'' he said.
''To end up on the podium is a dream result.''
The first Otago driver home was Balclutha's Dean Bond (Lancer Evo), who stormed back from a poor start (he was 33rd after the opening two stages), to finish a superb fourth overall.
Bond also claimed victory in the allcomers section of the rally after a good tussle with veteran campaigner Brian Stokes (North Canterbury) in his highly modified Ford Escort. Stokes, who won the rally outright in 1988 and 1994, was fifth overall, just over 20sec behind Bond.
Neal Bates (Toyota Celica) was seventh and won the classic component of the rally. He was followed in the overall standings by fellow Australian Matt van Tuinen (Subaru), Rhys Gardner (Balclutha, Lancer Evo) and Gore classic rally driver Derek Ayson (Ford Escort).
By David Thomson.
