Breen gets his Sanremo victory back

CRAIG Breen heads to Croatia and the third round of the World Championship with a second Rally Sanremo success under his belt.

The reigning Irish Tarmac champion won the Italian Championship round at the weekend, then had the victory taken away from him and co-driver Paul Nagle — only to be reinstated as the winners late in the day.

Breen was confident he had led home a Hyundai one-two finish, beating Italian National champion Andrea Crugnola by five seconds, before discovering he had been penalised 10 seconds for late arrival at the final passage control.

He had led Crugnola by 11 seconds going into the last of the eight stages and, confident he could see off the Italian’s challenge, he eased his way to the finish, setting the third fastest time and conceding six seconds. Then came the sanction which reversed the top two positions, handing the win to Crugnola.

However, officials were informed Breen and several other drivers were delayed on the road section by a traffic jam and the clerk of the course elected to cancel all penalties at the control.

Breen was the winner after all, a second victory in succession and a third for Nagle, who also won the rally with Kris Meeke in 2009.

He and Nagle now step up to a WRC Hyundai i20 for Rally Croatia starting on April 22, when they join former World champion Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville in the Korean team.

Having been left out by Hyundai for Rally Monte Carlo, they finished fourth on the next round Arctic Rally Finland in February, when team-mate Tanak was the winner.