MOTOR SPORTS NEWS

Latest News

  • Dakar 2021: Aleš Loprais fought until last kilometres in the Praga V4S DKR
  • Arctic Rally Finland joins 2021 FIA World Rally Championship
  • Lola Cars, Lola Technical Centre and Wind Tunnel Facility offered for sale
  • Sam Sunderland 3rd for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing on 2021 Dakar Rally
  • ETRC Truck Racing feature: Buggyra Zero Mileage Racing
  • Home
  • News
  • Dakar
    • DAKAR 2016
    • Dakar 2015
  • Cross-Country Rally
  • Notice Board
  • Rally
  • Motorbike
  • Touring Cars
  • Circuit Racing
  • Events
  • follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Google+
    • Pinterest
    • RSS Feed
    • Linked
    • Youtube

Breen’s Circuit Dream Realised!

Apr 05, 2015


Tweet

Craig’s dream of a Circuit win becomes reality with the 208T16 and the Peugeot Rally Academy.
Craig Breen’s rally week began like any other by testing his Peugeot 208 T16 over similar terrain as the event ahead but this time there was no early morning flight to some exotic location. This was the one time during his hectic 2015 season that his Peugeot Rally Academy team would come to him and test their rally winning machine just fifteen kilometres away in south Kilkenny. Dry in the morning and wet in the afternoon, Craig spent the day fine tuning the car set up in the changing conditions so it could best cope with the challenging bumpy roads when he and his co-driver Scott Martin arrived north of the border to take on round three of the FIA European Rally Championship the “Discover Northern Ireland, Circuit of Ireland Rally”.
Through Thursday’s short qualifying test where driver times would determine the order of choice at the road position selection ceremony later on that evening, Craig felt he was down on his usual pace but still managed third fastest time just 1.3 seconds down on top qualifier Robert Barrable but more importantly a mere 0.8 seconds down on his European Rally Championship rival Kajetan Kajetanowicz.
The Peugeot Rally Academy driver chose as he qualified and began a damp leg one on Friday running third on the road topping the time sheets on all but one of the opening three stages before service. As the afternoon loop progressed Craig found himself down on engine power again but the drying roads allowed him to use his experience to cope with the issue without hemorrhaging major time and the only signs that he showed of being hampered by it was through the two passes of the tight and twisty spectator stage in Newtownards dropping his advantage in the rally overnight to only one second.
If Craig was ever going to achieve his life-long ambition by getting his name on the same trophy as his childhood hero the late Frank Meagher he was going to have to make Leg two on Saturday count and that he sure did. Barrable drew first blood on the opening stage and snatched Craig’s precious circuit lead but the Peugeot Rally Academy ace fought back by setting fastest time on the next two tests in a nip and tuck battle that would see him swap the lead over and back between himself and Barrable before the mid-day service. The battle resumed over two visits to the short Lisburn stage and both drivers claimed a victory each but it was clear that Craig’s power issue had been finally cured by the engineers of the Peugeot Rally Academy and he was on a charge. When the pressure is on small mistakes have big consequences and it was Barrable that suffered first when he slipped off the road and out of the rally on SS16 gifting Craig the comfort of an almost twenty second lead with just two stages to go.
Luckily Craig escaped his own close calls on those remaining stages to realize his dream and take a hard fought rally win by 6.4 seconds over his championship rival Kajetanowicz.
Craig and the 208T16 now take the lead of the FIA European Rally Championship and the ERC Tarmac Masters Series.
It was a Good week-end in Ireland for the Peugeot Rally Academy with the 5th place of Craig’s team mate (Charles Martin – 208T16) and Diogo Gago-208R2 (4th in Junior)


  • tweet
Related articles
  • Dakar 2021: Aleš Loprais fought until last kilometres in the Praga V4S DKR
    Dakar 2021: Aleš Loprais fought until...

    Jan 15, 2021 Comments Off on Dakar 2021: Aleš Loprais fought until last kilometres in the Praga V4S DKR

  • Arctic Rally Finland joins 2021 FIA World Rally Championship
    Arctic Rally Finland joins 2021 FIA...

    Jan 15, 2021 Comments Off on Arctic Rally Finland joins 2021 FIA World Rally Championship

  • Lola Cars, Lola Technical Centre and Wind Tunnel Facility offered for sale
    Lola Cars, Lola Technical Centre and...

    Jan 15, 2021 Comments Off on Lola Cars, Lola Technical Centre and Wind Tunnel Facility offered for sale

  • Sam Sunderland 3rd for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing on 2021 Dakar Rally
    Sam Sunderland 3rd for Red Bull KTM...

    Jan 15, 2021 Comments Off on Sam Sunderland 3rd for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing on 2021 Dakar Rally

More in this category
  • Arctic Rally Finland joins 2021 FIA World Rally Championship
    Arctic Rally Finland joins 2021 FIA...

    Comments Off on Arctic Rally Finland joins 2021 FIA World Rally Championship

  • Lola Cars, Lola Technical Centre and Wind Tunnel Facility offered for sale
    Lola Cars, Lola Technical Centre and...

    Comments Off on Lola Cars, Lola Technical Centre and Wind Tunnel Facility offered for sale

  • Sam Sunderland 3rd for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing on 2021 Dakar Rally
    Sam Sunderland 3rd for Red Bull KTM...

    Comments Off on Sam Sunderland 3rd for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing on 2021 Dakar Rally

  • ETRC Truck Racing feature: Buggyra Zero Mileage Racing
    ETRC Truck Racing feature: Buggyra Zero...

    Comments Off on ETRC Truck Racing feature: Buggyra Zero Mileage Racing


Fleet Car Magazine

Notice Board

  • Lola Cars, Lola Technical Centre and Wind Tunnel Facility offered for sale
    Lola Cars, Lola Technical Centre and Wind Tunnel Facility...

    Jan 15, 2021

    TweetThe Lola Cars Brand, Trademarks, Extensive Technical...
  • Follow in the footsteps of Grand Prix legends and drive a Jordan F1 race car
    Follow in the footsteps of Grand Prix legends and drive a...

    Jan 09, 2021

    Tweet  Once driven by motor sport legend Takuma Sato...
  • WIN 1 of 3 ETRC TEAM T SPORT BERNAU PRIZE PACKS!
    WIN 1 of 3 ETRC TEAM T SPORT BERNAU PRIZE PACKS!

    Jan 02, 2021

    TweetIn association with T Sport Bernau and team sponsors...
  • FIA RX2e Championship Manual available for prospective competitors
    FIA RX2e Championship Manual available for prospective...

    Dec 29, 2020

    Tweet The official Championship Manual for the FIA RX2e...
  • ERC stars support FIA Volunteers & Officials Weekend on Rally Islas Canarias
    ERC stars support FIA Volunteers & Officials Weekend...

    Nov 28, 2020

    Tweet*FIA ERC season decider among events celebrating...

Categories

  • Africa Eco-Race
  • BRC
  • Circuit Racing
  • Cross-Country Rally
  • Dakar
  • Dakar 2015
  • DAKAR 2016
  • DAKAR 2017
  • DAKAR 2019 PERU
  • DAKAR RALLY 2018
  • EV Motorsport
  • Events
  • EverGreeens: Irish Abroad
  • Extreme E
  • Forestry Rally
  • Formula 1
  • Hillclimb
  • IndyCar Series
  • Interview
  • Middle East Rally Championship
  • Morocco Rally
  • Motorbike
  • News
  • Notice Board
  • Rally
  • RallyX
  • Related products
  • Review
  • Sportscars
  • Touring Cars
  • Tribute
  • Truck Racing
  • Uncategorized
  • Video
  • WRC
Tweets by @IrMotSportNews

Recent Posts

Sam Sunderland 3rd for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing on 2021 Dakar Rally

Sam Sunderland 3rd for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing on 2021 Dakar

Jan 15, 2021

TweetThe 43rd edition of the Dakar Rally proved to be one of the toughest in its history. With organizers delivering a punishing route across the entire 12 days of competition, the event included a...
Read More
ETRC Truck Racing feature: Buggyra Zero Mileage Racing

ETRC Truck Racing feature: Buggyra Zero Mileage...

Jan 15, 2021

Overall victory for Honda & Kevin Benavides at the 2021 Dakar Rally

Overall victory for Honda & Kevin Benavides...

Jan 15, 2021

Dakar SS11 win for KTM’s Sam Sunderland

Dakar SS11 win for KTM’s Sam Sunderland

Jan 15, 2021

Buggyra keeps pushing after longest penultimate stage of Dakar Rally 2021 is over

Buggyra keeps pushing after longest penultimate...

Jan 15, 2021

Copyright 2016 / All rights reserved