Posted at: 18:22, Sun 09 Oct 2011

Breen shows his class in Scotland

Breen shows his class in Scotland

Young Irish driver Craig Breen showed his class today as he finished 4th at the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) event in Scotland. The Waterford native, who is competing in the World Rally Championship (WRC), entered the Scottish event for competitive practice ahead of the WRC Rally Great Britain next month.

Breen, former Motorsport Ireland Young Driver of the Year, made an impressive start to the event in Scotland on Friday evening finishing 4th after the opening two stages. Saturday proved more difficult for him with the weather having a big impact on driving conditions. At the halfway point on Saturday Breen had dropped to 7th but he upped his challenge after service and finished 5th going into the final day.

The 21-year-old started well on Sunday and some impressive stages pulled him clear in 4th position. However on Stage 11 Breen suffered a cracked exhaust manifold, which he was unable to repair at service. This left him down on power for the remaining four stages but the talented young driver held on to 4th position in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000, 6 seconds ahead of IRC Championship leader Jan Kopecky.

Another Irish driver, Robert Barrable, finished in 16th position in his Skoda Fabia after a tough weekend over the Scottish stages. Breen will now compete in the next round of the World Rally Championship in Spain on the 20th October in the Super WRC and then the final round of the WRC Academy at Rally Great Britain on 10th November.

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