BREEN READY FOR A BIG CHALLENGE ON ARCTIC RALLY
Irish Hyundai WRC driver expecting a tough first rally of the season
Craig Breen expects a
“big challenge” when he makes his first start of the World Rally Championship season on Finland’s all-new winter round at the end of the month.
Breen, who turned 31 last week, has been confirmed in the third factory Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC for Arctic Rally Finland with fellow
Irishman Paul Nagle co-driving.
Although Breen has never competed in the Lapland region where the new WRC round will take place from February 26-28, he has tested there. He also tackled a winter rally in Finland last February, when he finished third in an i20 R5 alongside stand-in co-driver John Rowan.
“I’ve done a test there in 2014, not on or around the stages or in that direction but I did do a test in Rovaniemi,” Breen told MN.
“Having looked at some of the stages from the Arctic National Rally, it looks obviously very fast, not so much of a profile like you’d have in traditional Finland with crests and jumps but still at the same time a big challenge.”
Breen and Nagle were given an insight into the Arctic Rally Finland route last week when first organisers released initial details of the stages and then they tested on Friday. Featuring 10 tests over a competitive distance of 156 miles, the itinerary will include two runs at night when ambient temperatures could potentially drop to minus 20 degrees.
Deputy clerk of the course Kari Nuutinen is therefore convinced there will be no Rally Sweden-style ice shortages of 12 months ago: “The ambient temperatures should be between minus six and minus 14 degrees centigrade during the week of the rally although they could dip as low as minus 20,” he said.
“And there will be plenty of snow – or what Lapland people call ‘white gold’ – on the ground, so perfect conditions. The stages won’t be too unfamiliar to those used on the Arctic Lapland Rally, although some will be shorter to suit the WRC format, while others will run in reverse direction to create a level playing field for crews.”