Peugeot Academy driver Craig Breen completed a dominant weekend in Switzerland with victory on the final round of the 2015 FIA European Rally Championship, the Rallye International du Valais. Partnered by Scott Martin, Breen led from start to finish to win the Swiss event by 39.4 seconds. The result secures his fourth win of the season in the Peugeot 208 T16 and means the Irishman has secured the 2015 ERC Asphalt Master title.
“It is a hugely poignant win for me.”, said Breen “They (the team) really took a big risk to take this chance on me. I have had a wonderful couple of years. The year has been good speed wise, especially on the specialized rallies. Our speed has never been in question, but our season should have been better.”
Breen came into the final leg of the event with a lead of 55.9 seconds and the Peugeot driver knew that he didn’t need to take any risks to secure victory. Despite this he still won the opening two tests of the day before backing off the pace for the rest of the leg. Behind him Alexey Lukyanuk managed to overhaul local driver Olivier Burri to secure the runner up spot, Burri suffered a spin on the final leg to demote him to third. Emil Bergkvist completed a very impressive début in an R5 car by taking fourth overall in his Peugeot 208 T16, the Swede has definitely proven his ability at this level.
Florian Gonon rounded out the top five in his Peugeot 208 S2000. There was disappointment for Francois Delecour who retired his Porsche 997 GT3 with mechanical problems after an impressive event. David Botka claimed the ERC2 title in his Mitsubishi Evolution IX. The Hungarian driver had been involved in a great battle with series rival Voijech Stafj but the Subaru Impreza driver retired on the final stage of the event.