DONEGAL DOMINATION BRINGS SIXTH WIN A ROW FOR CRAIG BREEN!
Round four of the Fiesta Sport Trophy Ireland, was on the Saturday stages of the Donegal International Rally, the most prolific rally in Ireland, and 19 year old Waterford driver Craig Breen took the Fiesta FST victory in dominant style. Indeed it’s a style and a victory that has taken Craig to his sixth Fiesta Sport Trophy win in a row, such has been his pace in both the UK and Irish versions of this successful one make series.
Going into Donegal Craig led the Irish series by fifteen points, and he knew that this was a significant round, if he was going to build any cushion. Co-driver for the event was Scottish lass Kirsty Riddick, and Craig was confident of a good result after the recce. “I had a good recce and was confident Kirsty would do a great job.” The competition in Donegal was fierce and rain on top of the Donegal tarmac was an interesting prospect for the first stage. “The day started off wet. On the first stage I took the first few corners easy, and felt what the grip level was like, but it felt quite abrasive, and I was happy to push. However it worked out and we recorded a time 8 seconds clear of everyone, which was a great start.” With stage two cancelled Craig and Kirsty brought the Diarwood Fiesta back to service, for a change to a dry setting, as the weather turned more clement for the second loop of the same tests. On stages 3 and 4 Craig was once again fastest, and by this stage had built up a 22 second advantage over Mark Donnelly, with Robert Barrable third at this point.
The fifth stage was the legendary Knockalla mountain stage, with its sheer drops into the Atlantic Ocean on the left, it’s one of the most breathtaking strips of tarmac in Irish rallying, and was to be crucial stage on this event. At this point Craig needed to pace himself carefully, and second fastest time, just half a second behind fastest driver Shane Buckley was ideal and Craig’s lead was to be further extended to thirty seconds when second placed Mark Donnelly retired with gearbox problems. With two stages left, a fastest time for Craig and Kirsty in the Kel-Tech Fiesta rounded off a perfect day. “It was a great day for us and to win in Donegal was just superb. I just wish we can keep this run of success going on the next events.”
The next event on the hectic schedule is the next round of the Fiesta Sport Trophy UK, which is back to the forests this weekend for the Scottish Rally. It’s an ambitious calendar for Craig, who has just put in an entry for the World Championship Rally Finland. “We are hoping to contest Finland, Catalunya and Rally GB, which would mean that we would contest the four rounds necessary to qualify for the award for the Fiesta Sport Trophy International. I think we are lying second in that series at the moment, by virtue of the win in Portugal, and also because the scoring system gives a point per stage win, and fortunately we won all the stages there.”
It’s been a fabulous season for the young Waterford star, and on dropped scores he is joint leader with Matt Edwards in the UK Fiesta series, he leads the Irish, and has a strong chance
in the International FST series. “I believe no one has ever won all three Fiesta championships! It would be nice to try to achieve that, but there are many corners to turn before we start to think about it. At the moment I’m really enjoying driving the Fiesta’s and I’m also really looking forward to more miles in the new R2 Fiesta. We are waiting to see whether we can use that car on the remaining National Junior rounds at home. I was really impressed with it, when I drove it at Chatsworth, it felt very strong.”
There is little doubt that the former kart ace is one of the most exciting prospects in Irish rallying for quite some time, and in 2009 Craig and his team are putting everything into their efforts to climb the rallying ladder.
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