Two years ago the entry list at Rallye Sunseeker saw the name Craig Breen listed for the first time on a British Rally Championship event. Breen’s rise up the rallying ranks from that time has been well documented. Two year’s on and the Irish driver returned to the English South coast and on this occasion he held the honor of being seeded number one as the 2011 British Rally Championship got underway. Craig was privileged with the seeding position, but there’s only one goal on the Irish driver’s hit list this year and that’s FIA WRC Academy glory by the end of the season.
The event signaled a return to front wheel drive as we got our first sight of his newly acquired Fiesta R2. The Keltech livered Fiesta got off to the perfect start over the opening three stages and Craig was holding the R2 Class lead when the temperature gauge started to rise during the fourth test.
After stopping, the problem was diagnosed to be a broken water pump and the Irish/Welsh crew had to resort to filling water from a nearby puddle on the side of the stage to replenish the cars supply. This temporary fix got the car back to service, where the ailing pump was replaced and the car was back to full power. Craig was bitterly disappointed as the mechanical problem caused a loss of over two minutes.
Having bedded himself in over the first and second test, Craig was very happy with his pace and a time of 11:35.2 on stage three was quick enough to overhaul the Renault Twingo of Mikko Pajunen, then the ill fated mechanical problem put pay to any class aspirations. The remainder of the day was spend regaining as many class positions as possible. After dropping down to 7th in class the Waterford driver finished the day taking third in class R2, which shows his pace and how quickly he has adapted back to front wheel drive.
Craig is on duty again next weekend on home ground at the Wm. Loughman Forest Rally in Carrick on Suir, Co. Tipperary, Ireland and will be hoping for a clean run on his final preparation event before he heads to Portugal at the end of March.