Breen Excels in Tartan Thriller to Claim Fourth

Irish Rally driver Craig Breen upholds Ford's honours by clenching 4th overall on IRC Rally of Scotland. Breen only on his second IRC event was on the pace for the start on Friday night and over the three day's showed he can mix it with the big boys on the IRC scene.

Being consistent was the name of the game as the weather and surface conditions dictated a cautious approach and Breen delivered in fine style to bring home his Kel-Tech Engineering Ford Fiesta 2000 inside the top five. Breen was ecstatic with the result stating, "It was difficult yesterday to drive so conservatively and again this morning, then we hit problems. I'm angry that we didn't get to show some good speed but hey, we're here now in fourth and what more can I ask for. I'm already looking forward to WRC Spain which we will contest the SWRC in two weeks' time. I'm also delight this weekend went so well for my co driver Gareth Roberts, Gareth's professionalism over the last two years is one of the reasons why I've achieved so much."

Breen commented on the ceremonial start ramp held at Stirling Castle on Friday evening, "I'll be disappointed if I don't equal or better my result on Rally Zlin (Barum Czech Rally Zlin, Finished 7th overall) but this weekend will be a difficult and to record a good finish, a driver will need to be patient, but I want to be on the pace and enjoy the event."

The rally got underway in darkness with a double run over the Carron Valley (8.36km) and Breen made an impressive start by slotting in at 7th overall over the first stage just four seconds away from Guy Wilks, who set the pace. Craig said at the end of the stage, "It was quite good but it was horrendously slippy." The Ford driver then set a blistering time over the rerun, recording the third best time and climbed to hold 4th place going into the overnight halt.

As day two dawned the weather had deteriorated making conditions treacherous. Six stages were planned and Craig seeded 17th on the road started the day in 4th place after his fine effort on Friday evening but confessed to a slow start on the stage three morning opener, he also stated an overshoot on stage four plus the conditions and his road position didn't help as entered midday service. The rerun over the stages in the afternoon told a different story. Solid times over stage six and seven saw the Irish driver climb to 5th overall and with the final test of the day being cancelled the WRC Academy contender has some defending to do on day three to better his result from Rally Zlin.

At the end of stage seven, which turned out to be the final of day two Craig commented, "We just need to bring it home. I'm looking both to (Jan) Kopecky's who's pushing quite hard behind us and we're not too far away from Patrik (Sandell) who's just ahead of us but for now I just want to consolidate."

Day three Sunday turned out to be the sting in the tail on what was already a very tough event. Breen was second fastest on stage nine the first of the morning, Craig said at the end of the test, "We've matched Patrik, we are going to keep up the pace." Breen also managed to go 1.3 sec quicker than Thierry Neuville (FRA) and the gap between Craig in fourth to Neuville in third was just 1.4s. Then the drama started on stage 10 with Sandell going fastest on the stage taking 5.3sec out of Craig but as Patrik pulled up to the reporters at the end of the stage he stated that he had damaged the side of his car near the finish and would not be able to continue. This took the pressure off Craig and there was more good news as the next competitor through was Neuville in the Peugeot and he reported a spin costing him over a minute. Going into stage eleven Craig had a cushion of 19.7 seconds over Jan Kopecky (CZE) but there was even more drama and this time it was the Kel-Tech Fiesta driver who was to suffer. As he pulled up to the finish of the test it was clear to see he was after taking a visit into the Scottish scenery. Talking to the IRC reporters he said, "The car was down on power all the way through the stage and I also had a 360 spin near the end. I don't know what the problem is." It was then diagnosed in remote service to be a cracked manifold and Craig set out to nurse the car home over the four remaining stages. The 9.9km's of Loch Chon 2 (SS12) came next and the Irish man managed to pull another 1.9 sec out on Kopecky to extend his advantage to 16.8s. All the fingers were crossed in the Breen camp as Craig entered SS13 and the 25km's of High Corrie 2 but there was no problems on the rerun of the stage, the Czech driver did cut the gap by 3.8s and going into the penultimate test the difference was 13s.

Over SS14, Breen matched Kopecky, dropping only a second to hold an 11.7sec advantage going into the last 3km stage. Then over the final stage Craig was in total control, coming home 5sec down on the Czech Skoda driver but finishing 6.6 ahead to take fourth.

Craig's next event will be on WRC Spain in two weeks' time. The Irish driver will contest the event as an SWRC entrant and will again be hoping to continue his good form in the Fiesta S2000.