Craig Breen and co-driver Paul Nagle finished their second rally of the season with Hyundai Motorsport in the runner-up spot on Rally Estonia, with the Irishman also taking his best WRC result in the process.
Breen, who has still only done four rallies with the team, claimed second as the FIA World Rally Championship returned in Estonia after holding off six-time champion and current championship leader Sébastien Ogier.
On the opening stage on Saturday – Tartu vald – he had a little issue of hitting the wrong switch in the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC as he launched away from the start line, but recovered quickly and didn’t drop any substantial time.
“I had a little issue, hit a wrong switch at the start and I think it actually helped the car a bit. We’re back here again, it’s really incredible to be back in the car I missed it so much!” Breen said in an interview at the end of the stage.
In the following stage Prangli 1, Breen and co-driver Nagle managed to push really hard and gained two places on the overall leaderboard and was only 1.3 second shy of Kalle Rovanperä.
As the rally continued throughout the weekend, Breen managed to hold on to his second place and also finished fifth in the Power Stage to claim an extra point. The Korean manufacturer therefore took a one-two finish after home hero Ott Tänak won the rally.
“What an incredible weekend! I took it easy in the Power Stage, to make sure we made it through safely. I probably didn’t mean to take it that easy, but this is a great result. From the opening kilometres of the rally, everything just clicked.” Breen added.
“The car has done absolutely everything I’ve asked of it and has given me the confidence I needed. The man beside me, Paul, has done a fantastic job and I’d like to thank everyone who has made this possible. I feel like I’m starting my career all over again; I’ve certainly not forgotten how to do it and I want to do it even more!”
The next rally will in the revamped 2020 calendar is Rally Turkey between 18-20 September.
