Craig Breen and Paul Nagle finish second in Rally Estonia

Sun, 18 Jul, 2021 - 15:02

Martin Walsh

Delivering a performance that belied their lack of outings in their Hyundai WRC, Waterford’s Craig Breen and his Killarney co-driver Paul Nagle secured a brilliant second place in Rally Estonia, round seven of the World Rally Championship.

History was created when Finnish ace Kalle Rovanpera became the youngest driver to win a round of the series at just 20 years and 290 days, the previous record was held by his Toyota Yazoo Racing boss Jari Matti Latvala - 22 years and 313 days.

For Breen, who led briefly after S.S. 3, it became a highly pressurised drive when his team mate and S.S. 2 leader Ott Tanak was forced to retire on S.S. 3 with punctures.

Breen impressed during the opening leg where his stage times were never outside the top two, he was equal quickest with Rovanpera on S.S. 3 and was the outright winner of the 16.54 kilometre S.S. 8, Kanepi. “I came over the finish line and said to Paul (Nagle) it was the worst stage of the day, I think we need to do worst stages all the time!” He ended the day in second, just 8.5 seconds off the lead and 44.9 seconds ahead of his Hyundai team mate Thierry Neuville.

Rally leader Rovanpera made a scintillating start to Saturday’s second leg and increased his lead on the day’s opening stage to 22.8 seconds. By the service halt, the advantage increased to 35.7 seconds and 50.7 seconds by the day’s end, however, Rovanpera was very much on home territory as he lives in Estonia. Breen continued to hold a strong second on what was only his second outing of the season in the WR car. On the evening’s final stage (S.S. 18) he endured a scare when the front right wheel of his Hyundai hit a rock, he arrived at the service park with an oil leak and suspension damage.

During the final leg of six stages Breen kept his composure and for the second year in succession came home second in Estonia.

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