Motorsport: Craig Breen relishing ‘home’ comforts in Wales

By Martin Walsh

As the Dayinsure Wales Rally GB cranks into gear today, Waterford’s Craig Breen still awaits his maiden victory in a round of the World Rally Championship for his Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT team.

The French outfit have announced that Sebastien Ogier will rejoin next season but Breen has yet to confirm his plans. Citroen have an option on the former Billy Coleman award winner.

Wales Rally GB, round 11, is a “home” event for Breen, who will run 11th on the road.

I know the roads well and I had a very good feeling during our pre-event test,” Breen said. “The real difficulty here is trying to assess the level of grip as quickly as possible. You have to trust your feeling, and also rely on experience.

Ogier, who claimed the lack of manufacturer support from Ford played a part in his decision to leave M-Sport, reckons he needs to finish ahead of both his rivals Thierry Neuville (Hyundai i20 WRC) and Ott Tanak (Toyota Yaris WRC) to keep his title defence alive.

Neuville has seen his title bid stutter while Tanak has won in Finland, Germany and Turkey to join the title hunt.

With three rounds (and a possible 90 points) remaining including Rally GB, Neuville (178 points) leads the in-from Tanak by 13 points with Ogier a further 10 points in arrears.

Elsewhere, Wexford’s Eamonn Boland and his Waterford co-driver MJ Morrissey compete in the Dom Buckley run Ford Fiesta R5.

The rally will decide the outcome of the Prestone British Rally Championship with two sets of championship points on offer. Keith Cronin’s withdrawal from the series has given Welsh driver Matt Edwards (Ford Fiesta R5) a much easier path to the title. On home ground, Edwards is aiming for a clean sweep of BRC victories – last achieved by the late Colin McRae in 1992. Scotland’s David Bogie and his Irish co-driver John Rowan (Skoda Fabia R5) need to out-score Edwards all through to have a chance of winning the series.

In the Junior BRC, Donoughmore’s Kevin Horgan (Skoda Fabia R2) is among a quartet battling for the title. Horgan needs Northern Ireland’s William Creighton (Peugeot 208 R2) to falter to have any chance of the Junior BRC honours. Norwegian Steve Rokland (Peugeot 208 R2) is the favourite.

Today’s eight stages feature a double run over the 29.13km stage Brenig that includes a 4.2km section of tarmac.

Meanwhile, following a submission (RC1) from the Rallies Committee, the Motorsport Commission are set to decide on the situation that presently exists where homologated cars with additional kits compete in Class 20 within Motorsport Ireland events.