BREEN’S LATE CHRISTMAS PRESENT IN CO CORK
Craig Breen swept to victory in the Boggeragh Rallysprint in Cork over the festive season. “Sure, what else would you be doing?” said the WRC driver of the event between Christmas and the New Year.
Onboard the family ex-Marcus Gronholm Ford Focus WRC, Breen and co-driver Peter Brennan had 48 seconds in hand over the Ford Fiesta R5 of Stephen McCann and Tommy Hayes with David Condell (Ford Fiesta R5) and BRC winning co-driver Greg Shinnors taking third, a further 12.9s in arrears.
Taking an average advantage of 12s from each of the four timed runs over the 3.5-mile stage around the Boggeragh wind farm, Breen cantered to victory.
His only concern came after the third run when the Focus broke a driveshaft as Breen’s father Ray (double driving the car) began his own penultimate run. Tom Gahan Motorsport restored the car to its full potential and Breen Jr took the expected victory.
McCann, on his first gravel event in four years, was a solid second throughout with third place snapped up by Condell after Daniel Cronin overshot his VW Polo GTi R5 twice, both at hairpins near the finish of the second run. Struggling with a misfire for two of the four runs, a new coil pack gave Andrew Purcell’s Ford Fiesta R5 a new lease of life as he clawed his way back from ninth to fifth followed by Ray Breen and Keith Power (Ford Fiesta R5), who benefited from a change of tyres after the second run.
Results
Organiser: Cork Motor Club When: December 29,
Where: Nadd, Co Cork
Starters: 74.
1 Craig Breen/Peter Brennan (Ford Focus WRC) 13m20.7s; 2 Stephen McCann/Tommy Hayes (Ford Fiesta R5) +48.0s; 3 David Condell/Greg Shinnors (Ford Fiesta R5); 4 Daniel Cronin/Donnacha Burke (VW Polo GTi R5); 5 Andrew Purcell/Martin Brady (Ford Fiesta R5)s; 6 Ray Breen/Peter Brennan (Ford Focus WRC); 7 Keith Power/Mike Breen (Ford Fiesta R5); 8 John Carroll/Ger Brett (Mitsubishi Lancer); 9 Pete McCullagh/Flint McCullagh (Ford Fiesta); 10 James Dunphy/Ian Horgan (Subaru Impreza). Class winners: Johnny Kennelly/Brian O’Mahony (Ford Escort); George Shinnors/Sarah Clifford (Peugeot 205); Michael Feeney/Mark Wiley (Honda Civic); Jason Murphy/Rachel Brennan (Ford Escort); Cian Caldwell/Liam Egan (Ford Fiesta Rally4); Jack Brennan/John McGrath (Renault Clio); McCullagh/ McCullagh; Cronin/Burke; James Lehane/Mark O’Leary (Toyota Starlet); Evan McEvoy/Angiee Michniewicz (Metro); Jack Harris/Chloe Harris (VW UP); Tommy O Connell/Billy Caplis (Honda Civic).