Breen looking to extend World Championship lead

Waterford’s Craig Breen will be looking to extend his lead in the SWRC this weekend as the World Rally Championship heads to Sweden for the second event of the season.

Breen, the winner of the WRC Academy in 2011, has hit the ground running this year winning the SWRC category at the Monte Carlo Rally in January, the first event of the season and his first drive in the Super 2000 car section.

That win sees the 22-year-old top the leaderboard but his main rival PG Andresson, who set the pace in Monte Carlo before retiring, will be hoping to gain points on Breen this weekend.

The Motorsport Ireland International Driver of the Year took to the roads of Norway last weekend for the Rally Finnskog where he had the opportunity to experience a snow event, his first in 12 months.

Despite retiring following a damaged suspension, Breen was happy with the outing.

Breen said: "I was still very happy with our speed on snow and the confidence is high as we head to Sweden. It takes time to bed in to the conditions.

"We competed on the event last year and finished 15th overall but I won’t be taking anything for granted. Every rally poses its own set of difficulties and Sweden is no different. I also know that PG Andersson, on his home event will be pushing hard and will be the favourite,” Breen went on to say.

Rally Sweden begins tomorrow evening with a Super Special Stage in Karlstad with the event continuing on Friday and Saturday before finishing with a Power Stage in Hagfors on Sunday afternoon.