Well its nearly that time – our debut with Hyundai Motorsport at Rally Sardegna and to say I'm excited is an understatement. However, it is excitement mixed with a lot of nerves, but I have plenty to keep my mind busy over the next few days with recce and our preparation.

The last 6 months to this point has felt like ages, the next 6 months with 7 events and a good test program will fly by in comparison. We are well prepared for what the season is going to throw at us and also to learn/improve as much as possible from event to event.

The next 2 days we will get our first look at the Sardegna roads during recce. This event is one of the toughest of the WRC calendar with rough, narrow roads as well as the hot temperatures and the longest stage of the championship – 59km. This rally is about learning and improving. It was always going to be more difficult for us on the events we have not done before (Sardegna and Poland) but we need to make the most of this opportunity. So once we get to the events we are familiar with, we have learnt enough about the car to push to another level.

During the week you will be able to keep up to date with us many ways. We are now only doing pre and post events newsletter (like this), so keep an eye out on the following platforms:

www.facebook.com/haydenpaddonwrc – Videos, photos, comments daily

Twitter – @haydenpaddon – out on the stages live photos and comments

www.haydenpaddon.com – media releases, sound interviews each service and more

I know we have a lot of support from back home and we appreciate this. We will be giving it our all this weekend and doing the best job possible.