Craig bounces back with stylish Swiss performance

As the 2014 FIA European Rally Championship comes down to the wire, four drivers were still in with a chance to clinch the title when they set off for the penultimate round in Switzerland, the 55th running of the Rallye International du Valais.

Peugeot Rally Academy driver Craig Breen was one of them and although he had a forty nine point deficit to championship leader Esapekka Lappi he had three days and nineteen stages to reduce that gap as much as he could. Based in Valais in southwest Switzerland this would be Craig’s second time to take on the roads that wind their way through mountains and villages and because he  finished the rally third overall last year he was feeling confident.

Right from the qualifying on Thursday morning Craig made his intentions very clear by posting the fastest time in his Peugeot 208T16 on the short qualifying stage beating his Peugeot Rally Academy team-mate Kevin Abbring by 0.2 seconds. 

Craig not wanting to run first on the road when the rally began chose to run second at the start selection ceremony a while later but this was all in vain as an accident on the very first stage by the first competing car saw Craig and his co-driver Scott Martin take up the lead role for the opening three stages of the Leg. A cautious start through the melting snow and ice achieved Craig only the eleventh fastest time on SS1 but he fought back on SS2 by going fastest through the shortened test. Disaster struck on SS3 when Craig picked up a front right puncture early in the stage relegating him to twentieth overall as the opening day ended.

One very cold morning greeted the drivers on Friday for their first full day of rallying which was made up of eights stages broken by a midday service. To say Craig, Scott and the 208T16 were on a mission to prove the pace of the package would be an understatement as they set the stages alight on their way to posting five fastest times as the battle at the top between Lappi, Sepp Wiegand and Kajetan Kajetanowicz raged on. The Peugeot Rally Academy pair were showing their ERC Acropolis Rally winning form once again and ended the leg a heroic third overall.

Saturday’s leg two was the longest of the three days with a competitive distance of 135.62 kilometres for the crews to tackle. It was Lappi that went fastest on the opening stage, Craig just 7.4 seconds in arrears but status quo resumed on the next two stages as Craig topped the times again, his sights now firmly set on reeling in Kajetanowicz for 2nd place overall and as they reached the midday service Craig was a mere 2.2 seconds off the middle step of the podium. That deficit was converted into a 3.9 second advantage straight after service on SS16 when Craig went fastest again. Kejatanowicz failed to start the next stage due a small engine bay fire and although that allowed the Peugeot Rally Academy pair a cushion behind to third; they pushed on and cemented their position by snatching another fastest time on the final stage.

At the end of the final stage Craig emphasised the relief he felt to get a good result again and said he is really looking forward now to the final round championship showdown in Corsica in two weeks.

Later that evening Craig received the Colin McRae Flat Out Award in recognition of his great fight back to the podium.

You can keep up to date with Craig’s FIA ERC 2014 campaign by visiting www.craigbreen.com  or www.peugeot-sport.com