Craig Breen says he’s “On Top Of The World” after securing second place on last weekend’s Rally Sweden.
Having secured his best WRC finish ever alongside co-driver Scott Martin, the Irishman admitted that one of the factors for his performance was because he enjoyed the Swedish event. He said: “I’m absolutely on top of the world! It has been an incredible weekend. I have always really enjoyed this rally in the past, but I have to say that I surprised myself this weekend in that I was able to fight at the front throughout the race, without making any mistakes.”
“I used to think that quick rallies weren’t suited to me, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. In any event, my C3 WRC was perfect here and it’s great to secure this result for the team – the guys have worked really hard for this.”
Photo Credit: Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool
As Breen took a superb second behind winner Thierry Neuville, the French team’s other two drivers, Kris Meeke and Mads Østberg, both had mixed weekends.
The returning Østberg alongside Torstein Eriksen held on to a solid sixth place finish on his one-off appearance to the team, while Meeke restarted under Rally 2 rules after colliding with Ott Tänak while suffering engine issues in the C3 WRC on the Saturday morning.
Norwegian Østberg was pleased with his weekend: “I’m delighted with my return to the team. I wasn’t expecting to be able to fight for such a good position with the limited amount of miles we covered in testing. I hope that the team is pleased with what we have done with this first experience together. I know that with more time in the car, I can be even more competitive with the C3 WRC.”
While Meeke commented on his action-packed event: “It was a difficult rally for us. With our less than ideal position in the running order on Friday, I had trouble finding any confidence, which meant that we ended up being one of the first on the road on Saturday.”
“I was nonetheless working hard to secure the point for tenth place when we nosed into a snow bank at low speed and damaged the turbo. It was really unlucky.”
Round three of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship is Rally Mexico which takes place between March 8-11.
