Red-hot Waterford star Breen the man to beat in Belfast

On home ground, it is not surprising that there is a wave of expectation on Craig Breen to win the Discover Northern Ireland Circuit of Ireland Rally, round four of the European Rally Championship that gets underway in Belfast this morning.

The Waterford driver will begin the event as leader of the ERC and the raging favourite to win the Easter classic.

As ever in rallying, reliability will play a crucial role and while Breen gave the new Peugeot 208 T16 a winning ERC debut on the Acropolis Rally, the 18-stage Circuit will be a different proposition. A pre-event test in Kerry along with almost five stages of the Circuit of Kerry gave the Peugeot works team an indication of the vagaries of Irish rallying, although they probably didn’t expect the transmission issues that blighted the trip to the Tralee.

One question remains though: who, if anyone, can prevent him from joining his idol, the late Frank Meagher (1992) as a winner of the Circuit of Ireland? Skoda had a 1-2-3 the last time the ERC visited our shores. This time their hopes are pinned on Finnish driver Esapekka Lappi and German Sepp Wiegand. In terms of the ERC, Lappi is just four points behind Breen. Perhaps Breen’s own team-mate Dutchman Kevin Abbring will provide the biggest threat. He led the Acropolis before the car was sidelined with a technical issue.

Victory should come from within that quartet but if there is someone to break their dominance, it could well be Monaghan’s Sam Moffett in his Ford Fiesta that is converted from WRC to RRC (Regional Rally Car) specification in order to be eligible for the ERC spectacular. He took time to adapt to the controlled tyres when he used the Circuit of Kerry as a shakedown. Given the divergence of cars it is difficult to predict how his times will compare with the top four, a situation common to Dubliner Robert Barrable’s in his Ford Fiesta R5.

Meanwhile, the Irish and Mitsubishi trio of Josh Moffett, Aaron MacHale and Robert Woodside will have designs on the Production category. Elsewhere, Monaghan’s Daniel McKenna will drive a Citroen DS3 R3T and Stephen Wright (Peugeot) makes his debut in the ERC Junior Championship.

The national category hosts the major players in the Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac Championship contenders. They are unable to win the main event but ITC points are their main objective. Reigning champion Garry Jennings (Subaru WRC) will renew rivalry with Declan Boyle, Eugene Donnelly (Mini WRC), Derek McGarrity – who is listed to drive a Mini WRC but could compete in a different make. Donagh Kelly (Ford Focus WRC) and Kenny McKinstry (Subaru WRC) are also on the entry. In the Modified category Declan Gallagher (Toyota Starlet) will be aiming to make it a hat-trick of wins as Wesley Patterson, Frank Kelly and Camillus Bradley, all in Escorts, provide the opposition.

Today’s 10 stages include the renowned Hamilton’s Folly along with the 2.3 km Newtownards TT stage. The service park is based at the Titanic Quarter.

Meanwhile, JRM has signed multiple British Rally champion Mark Higgins to drive its brand-new Group N specification Subaru WRX STI rally car in the European Rally Championship beginning with the Ypres Rally in June.

In circuit racing, Cork driver Matt Griffin has outings in the opening rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) at Silverstone this weekend. In the six hour WEC race on Sunday, he lines out with Ram Racing in the Ferrari 458 GTE where he will be partnered by Alvaro Parente in the GTE Pro Class race. Tomorrow, he has the four hour ELMS race with the crack Italian team AF Corse in the GTE class where he will be joined by Duncan Cameron and Michele Rugolo in a Ferrari 458 GTE. There is practice for both races today and tomorrow, ELMS qualifying begins at 11.05am followed at noon by WEC qualifying with the ELMS race at 2.30pm.