Craig cruises to victory at Ravens Rock Rally

“That was the most fun day of Rallying I’ve ever had”. That’s what Peugeot Rally Academy driver Craig Breen said just before he and his co-driver Scott Martin sprayed the champagne on the finish ramp of the 2014 Ravens Rock Rally in Waterford.

It was the 43rd running of the Carrick on Suir Motor Club’s main event of the year and Craig took full advantage of it to drive a world car on tarmac for the first time in preparation for his up-coming outing on WRC  Rallye Deutschland in August.

Always striving to try new things the Ravens Rock organisers this year decided to run a 3km stage on the outskirts of Waterford City after the ceremonial start on Saturday night and rally fans lined the streets for both to get a rare glimpse of their local hero in action. Craig stamped his authority from the word go and won the short test by 6.9 seconds over County Kerry man Alan Ring in an Impreza WRC S12B and it was another local Eoin Doyle in a Focus WRC that finished third, 3.3 seconds back.

Waterford is in “the sunny southeast” corner of Ireland and certainly lived up to its reputation because when Sunday dawned it brought glorious sunshine to guide the drivers through the three very scenic stages (Grantstown, Woodstown & Ballymacaw) that were each to be used three times that day. The stages had only been ever been used by the Circuit of Ireland more than thirty years ago so there was no home advantage to be got by anyone this year.

Craig started where he left off and comfortably eased away from the chasing pack leaving Ring and Doyle to battle out which step of the podium they were going to be on when the rally returned to the city that evening. Between each loop of stages there was a service at Waterford Airport Buisiness Park situated within the loop area but the Peugeot Rally Academy crew only needed routine servicing to keep the Tom Gahan run Kel-Tech Fiesta WRC in top form and in the end Craig and Scott returned to the base at Dooleys Hotel to win the event by almost two minutes.

By winning the event Craig took the Colm Doyle memorial trophy home to the Breen household for the fourth time as both Craig and his dad Ray have each won this trophy twice now. You can keep up to date with Craig’s 2014 campaign by visiting www.craigbreen.com  or  www.peugeot-sport.com

Photo: Roisin Core Photography