Every young rally driver that has ambitions of reaching the highest level in the sport dreams of competing in one event in the World Rally Championship calendar and that one event is World Rally Finland. That dream comes true again for Craig Breen next weekend. Twelve months ago Craig made the trip to Jyvaskya (Host City) when he took victory in the Fiesta SportTrophy International series.
After claiming victory in last years FSTi class Craig said “It’s the best rally I’ve ever done, I was absolutely on the limit.” The Waterford driver has been competing in both the British Rally Championship and the Irish Tarmac Championship but making the return to Finland was always a priority from the time he acquired his Fiesta S2000. Finland is the pinnacle of the World Rally Championship and that’s why the Craig Breen Rallying team have waited until now to debut the Kick Energy Fiesta S2000 on the world stage.
Craig has been out of competitive action over the last five weeks after his crash in round four of the Irish Tarmac Championship at the Donegal International Rally. In the accident Craig sustained an injury to his elbow and the car sustained a lot of damage. A result of the damage to the car, Craig had to withdraw his entry from round four of the British Rally Championship in the Isle of Man but this time off has proved the ideal build up to his biggest challenge of the season. As the clock ticks down the excitement level is starting to grow and now Craig can’t wait for the rally to get under way. Craig still admits that the Donegal accident is on my mind “A puncture was the cause of our big high speed off in Donegal, so I’m a little more nervous than I would usually feel before a rally. I competed in this event last year and it was very fast, but I think this year will be even faster. I’ve been studying a DVD which the organisers sent me but with so many top class Fiesta S2000 entries it’s going to be very tough rally for me.”