CRAIG BREEN HAS produced the best-ever result by a driver from the Republic of Ireland on a WRC (World Rally Championship) event — finishing second overall at Rally Sweden.
Along with co-driver Scott Martin, the Citroen C3 man went into the final three stages in the runner-up spot, and they did enough on Sunday to remain there just behind winner Thierry Neuville, who won by 19.8 seconds.
It’s the finest achievement of 28-year-old Breen’s career, bettering his third at Rally Finland in 2016.
There were emotional scenes at the finish line as the Sliverue native was met by his mother.
.@Craig_Breen secures 2nd overall on Rally Sweden, the best result for a driver from the Republic of Ireland on a WRC rally pic.twitter.com/9m69J9TQcu
— Motorsport Ireland (@MotorsportIRL) February 18, 2018
“I’m not going to cry this time,” Breen said. “Awesome, I’m absolutely on top of the world. It was a really big stepping stone this weekend, we’re really started to put the whole package together.
I have to thank every single person that’s around me — not only this man [Scott Martin], all the engineers, my family, my friends… everybody. They’ve stuck with me this past year when it’s been difficult. The boys have made this thing work, so it’s a pure pleasure right now.
He added: “Finally, we did. I’m over the moon. We had a really nice day, we held off the fight from Andreas [ ] and we had some really good times in the morning. That allowed us to have cruise to finish up in second.
“Thanks for all the messages for support during the weekend.”
It is amazing to finish on the podium here at Rally Sweden, but it is also brilliant to show the pace we always knew we had! Massive thank you to the team, my engineer Thomas and all the fans for your incredible support! pic.twitter.com/09RLio9jOs
— Craig Breen (@Craig_Breen) February 18, 2018
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