BREEN SATISFIED WITH MAIDEN HYUNDAI OUTING
Craig Breen says his return to World Rally Car competition at last weekend’s Rally Estonia was “business as usual”.
The Irishman returns to the WRC in Finland next month and used his Estonian outing with Hyundai Motorsport to get used to the team while reacquainting himself with the speed of the sport’s top flight.
Breen drove Hyundai’s test i20 Coupe WRC in Finland the week before Rally Estonia before taking a 2017-specification car to the Otepaa-based event.
“[Estonia] was about me getting up to speed and finding the commitment on a high-speed rally. I was wondering if it might take me a little bit of time to get back there after driving the R5 car, but I’m happy to say that it was business as usual for Paul [Nagle, co-driver] and myself. There was no bother at all.
“I was running an older car with the original engine, but it doesn’t matter – I’m grateful to Hyundai for giving me the chance to drive on the rally as well as the test. It was really useful – there are bits which are common to the new car and it was great to get in and feel comfortable.
“The last time I competed in one of these cars was in Australia last year, so getting some miles in was really important for me.”
Despite the age of the car,
Breen posted a pair of top-three times on his way to fifth place.
Of more interest for Breen was his time in the Finland-spec i20 he drove in Finland the previous week.
“The car felt great,” he said. “I took what would be roughly Thierry’s [Neuville] set-up and made a few small subtle things to bring the car to me, but I was surprised how quickly I felt comfortable with everything.
“The car gave me confidence and, going to a rally like Finland, that’s so important.”
Breen is scheduled to drive an i20 Coupe WRC just one more time before the August 1-4 event.
“I’m going to shake [Sebastien] Loeb’s car down for Rally di Alba,” said Breen. “There were just a couple of things – simple things like the dash configuration. There was a chance to drive the car and I jumped at it.”
Like his fellow WRC driver Hayden Paddon, Breen will miss the next round of the Titansrx series at Lydden Hill, which runs the on July 27/28, the weekend before Rally Finland.