BREEN CLAIMS PODIUM IN ITALY
Craig Breen battled hard on Rally d’Italia to secure second spot in his Puma Hybrid Rally1
It was all smiles for the M-Sport crew in Italy in June, with Craig Breen fighting hard to take second place in the soaring temperatures and challenging conditions. Not only that, but Pierre-Louis Loubet exceeded expectations and found himself battling for the final spot on the podium, delivering a top-flight career-best finish of fourth place.
In soaring heat on the Friday, Loubet set the tone for the weekend with a fantastic opening stage, just 0.8 seconds off the lead. Breen also got off to a great start and was clearly on the hunt for a podium finish from the outset; Breen finished the morning the session in fourth place just 1.2 seconds behind Loubet in third. In the afternoon, the pair continued to post near identical times; they ended Friday’s running with Loubet in third and Breen in fourth, separated by just 0.4 seconds and only 15.1 seconds off the lead.
Breen continued his blistering pace on Saturday, shooting to second overall on the opening stage of the day and securing M-Sport’s first stage win of the event on Stage 12. With the final two stages cancelled, Breen ended Saturday in second spot with Loubet just outside the podium places in fourth position.
Sunday’s objective for the front-running
Pumas was clear; bring the cars home for a strong result for the M-Sport team. They did, with Breen earning his second visit to the podium of this campaign and Loubet taking a career-best fourth spot in the top-flight WRC class.
In the other Puma Rally1 machines, Gus Greensmith endured a disappointing opening day; after spinning and stalling the car he lost significant time. Saturday saw the young Brit fight back and start to climb his way back up the leaderboard, where he finished the event in seventh place.
Adrien Fourmax showed raw pace in the opening stages and was sitting in a comfortable fifth place behind teammates Loubet and Breen at the end of Friday’s running. But his rally ended abruptly on Saturday when he caught a tree on the inside of a fast right-hander; thankfully both he and co-driver Alexandre Coria emerged from the resulting accident unscathed, but the car was forced to retire from the event with extensive damage.
Next up, the WRC heads to Kenya for the legendary Safari rally on 23-26 June; full update in next issue.