{"id":7505,"date":"2023-04-20T09:14:37","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T09:14:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/?p=7505"},"modified":"2023-04-20T09:26:38","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T09:26:38","slug":"wrc-teams-pay-tribute-to-craig-breen-in-croatia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/?p=7505","title":{"rendered":"WRC teams pay tribute to Craig Breen in Croatia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Following the passing of Craig Breen (33) in an accident during testing, the factory teams will pay tribute to the Irishman in Rally Croatia.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One week after the accident that claimed the life of Craig Breen, Hyundai has communicated on the conditions leading to the death of Breen. As was becoming obvious from pictures from the scene of the accident, the fatal consequences resulted from sheer bad luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Craig Breen (IRL) and Paul Nagle (GBR) finished second in Sweden this year. Photo Red Bull Content Pool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRelatively slow speed\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Breen was testing with Hyundai on a closed off stretch of road in Croatia, prior to the WRC rally taking place. Hyundai Motorsport boss Cyril Abiteboul: \u201cRoad conditions were slippery and the car slid off the road at a relatively low speed and made contact with a wooden fence. A post from this fence intruded into the cabin through the driver\u2019s side window. The stage was closed immediately and the on stage medical team was rapidly on the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe must mention that (co-driver) James Fulton was unhurt in the crash and our hearts go out to him. We are doing everything we can to support James at this time. Craig was taken to hospital from the stage. As far as can be determined, Craig\u2019s passing was instantaneous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Craig Breen (IRL) Paul Nagle (GB) of team M-Sport Ford WRT at the World Rally Championship Estonia in Tartu, Estonia on July 15, 2022. Photo Red Bull Content Pool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Father to son<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Breen\u2019s funeral took place in his hometown of Waterford in Ireland on April 18th. Craig Breen was the son of Irish national rally champion Ray Breen. Craig Breen first started competing in go-karts, but was \u2018flat-out in anything with wheels on\u2019, according to family statements. The family connection led to rally eventually. In 2009, Craig Breen became the winner of the British, Irish and International Fiesta Sporting Trophy. For 2010, he moved to Super2000s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Craig Breen (IRL) Paul Nagle (IRL) at Rally Estonia in 2021. Photo Red Bull Content Pool <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First steps in rally<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Breen\u2019s rise through the ranks was meteoric. In 2011, the Irishman won the WRC Junior crown \u2013 back then called the WRC Academy \u2013 in a Ford Fiesta R2, following in the footsteps of S\u00e9bastien Loeb and S\u00e9bastien Ogier. For 2012, Breen moved to the SWRC (S2000 WRC), again with a Ford Fiesta. There were victories, but also disaster when at the Targa Florio rally in September an accident took the life of his friend and navigator Gareth \u2018Jaffa\u2019 Roberts. After much doubting, Breen opted to continue in rallying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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S\u00e9bastien Loeb (FRA) and Craig Breen (IRL) celebrate in Monaco, 2022. Photo Red Bull Content Pool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Craig Breen made his WRC debut in 2014 in Rally Finland in a Ford Fiesta WRC, finishing in ninth place. It took until 2016 for Breen to be given a six-rally WRC program, with the DS3 WRC. It was again in Finland, in only his third rally with the DS3 WRC, that he took his first podium with third place. In Sweden in 2017, now with the Citro\u00ebn C3 WRC, Craig Breen went one better with second place. He was, however, dropped from Citro\u00ebn\u2019s WRC program at the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Podium in Sweden, 2023. Photo Red Bull Content Pool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Comeback kid<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Breen showed exactly what he was made off, refusing to give up, he mounted a succesful campaign in the Irish national championship, and taking victories at Ypres and San Remo in the European championship. Hyundai brought Breen back to the WRC for Rally Finland and Rally of Great Britain in 2019. He could not get a full program, but made a strong impression in 2021 securing podium finishes in Estonia, Ypres and Finland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good results let to a dream contract with Ford and M-Sport for 2022. Craig Breen got his first full season in the Puma and got off to a great start, claiming third in the Monte Carlo season opener. Unfortunately, the rest of the season turned into a nightmare. Too many accidents meant M-Sport and Breen decided to part ways. Breen found a part-time seat with Hyundai for 2023, and started sensationally in Rally Sweden. The Irishman was leading for a big part of the rally, but was unable to stop a late comeback by Ott Tan\u00e4k in the Ford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo Hyundai Motorsport GmbH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Honouring Craig Breen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rally Sweden was the perfect rally for Breen, showing he could bounce back after a troublesome season. His last picture on Instagram was one of him with the biggest of grins, commenting; \u201cWhen someone tells you we\u2019re back in the Rally1 car again this week\u2026\u2019 It was clear there was plenty more to come from Craig Breen, not just one of the WRC\u2019s quickest drivers, but also someone who loved the sport deeply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Rally Croatia<\/a>, Hyundai decided to just enter two cars, leaving Craig Breen\u2019s entry open. The Hyundais will run in an Irish-themed livery. Toyota, in a remarkable display of sportsmanship, has announced it will also drop its third entry for Rally Croatia. Both Ford and Toyota will carry references to Craig Breen on their cars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following the passing of Craig Breen (33) in an accident during testing, the factory teams will pay tribute to the Irishman in Rally Croatia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,107],"tags":[1078,936,163,1079,635],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-7505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-pictures-videos","category-obituaries","tag-craig-breen","tag-hyundai","tag-rally","tag-rally-croatia","tag-wrc","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/SI202110020399_hires_jpeg_24bit_rgb.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7505"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7535,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7505\/revisions\/7535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7505"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fthb-sponsors&post=7505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}