24th Overall and Class Victory on French Debut for Breen
Posted: June 5, 2011 10:58 PM
Craig Breen stepped up his Tarmac preparation over the weekend with his second outing of the year on the black stuff. A class R2 win and 24th overall were his rewards on the French National Championship round in the Rallye du Limousin. Breen who is participating in the WRC Academy this year continued his asphalt preparation as the Irish driver has two important FIA WRC Academy events on the sealed surface later in the season.
If Finland is to be considered the home of gravel rallying, then it follows that France would carry that same said tag for tarmac. Drivers like Didier Auriol, Francois Delecour and not forgetting our current world champion and tarmac king Sebastien Leob roll of the tongue when the asphalt surface is mentioned and Breen continued his learning over the weekend in central France.
After completing his recce on Thursday, the twenty-one year old Breen stated "All six stages are super fast and the rally contains a 47km mega stage on Saturday that will be traversed 4 times"
The rally started on Friday evening with the opening 23km stage and was followed by the short 2.34 super special. Breen, seeded 136th set the pace in his class on the initial test and leapfrogged to 41st overall. He consolidated his position over stage two and held second place in his class overnight. Day two Saturday was made up of four monster tests. Stage 3 Ronde de Vassiviere was a staggering 47.3kms long and was scheduled to be tackled 4 times. After the first pass, Craig gained five places on the leader board to hold 36th and in doing so took over the class lead in R2. The second attack at the stage was cancelled so on to the penultimate test and Breen was again on the moved lifting himself to 24th overall and extending his class lead to over a minute. The last stage of the day was then also cancelled so on his debut on French Tarmac, Craig took 24th place overall and the R2 class victory. Afterwards Craig said "24th overall, 1st in R2, a really good day and great preparation for the WRC events later in the season."
Craig's next outing will be also on tarmac as he takes on his home event the Ravens Rock Rally. The rally based in Kilkenny on June 26th will see the Irish driver behind the wheel of his Fiesta S2000.
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