Breen ‘gutted’ after spinning out in Austria

Motorsport: Waterford’s Craig Breen suffered an early exit from the Internationale Jannerrallye in Austria, round one of the European Rally Championship, when he retired some two kilometres from the finish of the first stage.

The incident occurred when his Peugeot 208 T16 slid off the road on a slow downhill left-hand bend.

Breen explained, “It was a 10kph accident, I got it (the car) slowed down and was halfway round the corner but as I got back on the power, I lost grip and the front of the car spun round. There was no damage but it was stuck on the sump-guard.”

He added: “The stage was going really well, I was really enjoying the conditions, they were consistent. I’m gutted to go out on the first stage of the year but I’ve got to put it to the back of my mind.”

Breen and co-driver Scott Martin restart under Rally 2 rules today in the hope of winning bonus points. Meanwhile, Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Ford Fiesta R5) is almost four minutes ahead of Robert Consani (Peugeot 207 S2000).

Internationale Jannerrallye Rd 1, European Rally Championship, Austria: 1. K. Kajetanowicz/J. Baran (Ford Fiesta R5) 1h. 42m. 13.6s; 2. R. Consani/M. Vilmot (Peugeot 207 S2000) 1h. 46m. 06.1s; 3. J. Tarabus/D. Trunkat (Skoda Fabia S2000) 1h. 48m. 43.0s; 4. A. Lukyanuk/ E. Chervonenko (Ford Fiesta R5) 1h. 49m. 49.1s; 5. S. Lefebvre/S. Prevot (Citroen DS3 R5) 1h. 56m. 16.0s; 6. J. Raoux/T. Escartefigue (Ford Fiesta R5) 1h. 58m. 24.5s.