Breen’s brilliance lights up Academy

WATERFORD’S Craig Breen made a great start to the inaugural WRC Academy series in the Vodafone Rally de Portugal yesterday where he leads Estonian Egonaaur Kaur by 48.4 seconds after seven stages, with Fermanagh’s Alastair Fisher just 0.8 of a second behind in third.

Gearbox concerns on the second stage saw the unit replaced at the service halt, although Breen collected a 10-second penalty for a late arrival at a subsequent time control. He also lost time on the fifth stage after engine trouble. Fisher was quickest through the sixth test with Breen just a tenth-of-a-second behind, Breen then lost over 30 seconds to stage winner Kaur in last evening’s final stage.

In the senior event, Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Fiesta WRC) will begin today’s leg 11.5 seconds in front of team-mate Mikko Hirvonen. World champion Sebastien Loeb (Citroen DS3 WRC) is just 2.2 seconds further back followed by Sebastien Ogier.