John Kennard (co-driver)

John Kennard

Personal information
Nationality	New Zealander
Born	(1959-02-11) 11 February 1959 Christchurch, New Zealand
World Rally Championship record
Active years	1985, 1987–1989, 1991, 1998, 2007–2017
Teams	Pirelli Star Driver, Hyundai Motorsport
Rallies	73
Championships	0
Rally wins	1
Podiums	5
Stage wins	22
First rally	1985 1000 Lakes Rally
First win	2016 Rally Argentina
Last win	2016 Rally Argentina
Last rally	2017 Rally Argentina

John Kennard (born 11 February 1959) is a former rally co-driver born in Christchurch, New Zealand,

Rally career

John Kennard (left) and Hayden Paddon (right) at 2016 Rally Sweden.

Kennard has been a co-driver to numerous drivers, the most notable being Hayden Paddon at Hyundai motorsport. They had their first win at Rally Argentina in 2016.

In March 2017 it has been announced that Kennard will step down as Paddon's co-driver this summer after Rally Finland and that a replacement for John will be announced soon. The replacement was confirmed the day after to be Kevin Abbring's co-driver Sebastian Marshall.

Kennard suffered a hip injury prior to the 2017 Rally de Portugal, which meant Marshall had to substitute for Kennard for the rally. On 30 May, Kennard retired as co-driver earlier than what was planned, because of the injury.

Kennard was voted Marlborough Sportsperson of the Year in 2016, succeeding Sophie MacKenzie.

Rally victories

WRC victories

#	Event	Season	Driver	Car
1	36° Rally Argentina	2016	Hayden Paddon	Hyundai i20 WRC

Rally results

WRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
2007	Paddon Direct Green Team	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	MON	SWE	NOR	MEX	POR	ARG	ITA	GRE	FIN	GER	NZL 49						NC	0
	Team Jordan	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX												ESP	FRA	JPN	IRE	GBR Ret
2008	Paddon Direct Green Team	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	MON	SWE	MEX	ARG	JOR	ITA	GRE	TUR	FIN	GER	NZL 12	ESP	FRA	JPN	GBR		NC	0
2009	Hayden Paddon	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	IRE	NOR	CYP	POR	ARG	ITA	GRE	POL	FIN	AUS 9	ESP	GBR					NC	0
2010	Pirelli Star Driver	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X	SWE	MEX	JOR	TUR 26		POR 20	BUL	FIN 21	GER 19		FRA 35	ESP	GBR 19				NC	0
	Hayden Paddon	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX					NZL 14					JPN 12
2011	New Zealand World Rally Team	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	SWE	MEX	POR 11	JOR	ITA	ARG 9	GRE	FIN 19	GER	AUS 6	FRA	ESP 34					18th	10
	Hayden Paddon	Subaru Impreza STi R4													GBR 13
2012	Hayden Paddon	Škoda Fabia S2000	MON	SWE 23	MEX	POR 16	ARG	GRE	NZL 12	FIN Ret	GER	GBR 26	FRA Ret	ITA	ESP 20				NC	0
2013	Hayden Paddon	Škoda Fabia S2000	MON	SWE	MEX	POR	ARG	GRE	ITA	FIN 11	GER 8	AUS 17	FRA		GBR				18th	8
	Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team	Ford Fiesta RS WRC												ESP 8
2014	Hyundai Motorsport N	Hyundai i20 WRC	MON	SWE	MEX	POR	ARG	ITA 12	POL 8	FIN 8	GER	AUS 6	FRA	ESP 9	GBR 10				15th	19
2015	Hyundai Motorsport	Hyundai i20 WRC	MON	SWE 5								AUS 5			GBR 5				9th	84
	Hyundai Motorsport N				MEX 17	ARG 16	POR 8	ITA 2	POL 4	FIN Ret	GER 9		FRA 5	ESP 6
2016	Hyundai Motorsport N	Hyundai i20 WRC	MON 25		MEX 5	ARG 1					GER 5	CHN C	FRA 6	ESP 4	GBR 4				4th	138
	Hyundai Motorsport			SWE 2			POR Ret	ITA Ret	POL 3	FIN 5						AUS 4
2017	Hyundai Motorsport	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	MON WD	SWE 7	MEX 5	FRA 6	ARG 6	POR	ITA	POL	FIN	GER	ESP	GBR	AUS				8th	74
2019	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	MON	SWE	MEX	FRA	ARG	CHL	POR	ITA	FIN	GER	TUR	GBR	ESP	AUS			NC*	0*

* Season still in progress.

External links

• eWRC