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.