The M-Sport´s leading WRC driver Craig Breen, who started the season with high expectations, has had a poor mid-season with three consecutive retirements and especially the retirements in the Rally Estonia and Rally Finland were painful because in the fast gravel rallies the Irishman has been in his element in previous seasons.
Breen has also traditionally had a good time on the Belgian tarmac rally. Last season, Breen finished second at the wheel of a Hyundai i20 WRC in Ypres Rally, and he also celebrated winning the rally a few years back before it was a part of the FIA World Rally Championship.
Breen is reflecting on the previous rallies there and says he is happy to be back there: “It’s great to be back in Ypres, because I’ve always liked that event. I’ve driven the rally a few times and last year it went really well. We were able to fight for the win all the time and I showed good pace. We have also won the rally in 2019 before it was part of the WRC. so there are a lot of good memories. Hopefully we can get a good result and we can prove the speed of the car, which has been at a high level since the beginning of the season on tarmac.“
M-Sport has only taken three podium places out of the eight rounds of the season so far. In the season-opener of Rallye Monte-Carlo in Monaco, Sébastien Loeb celebrated the victory and became the first driver to win in the new Rally1 hybrid regulations, and Breen accompanied him in third place. In Rally Italia Sardinia, Breen also reached a podium finish at the beginning of June.
The team boss of the British outfit, Richard Millener, says the goal of the weekend is a podium. In theory, the only driver that can do it is Breen as the two other drivers of Adrien Fourmaux and Gus Greensmith are a bit of the pace: “We are confident about the rally, because we know that our car is strong on tarmac. Hopefully we can travel back to Cumbria with a win in the bag.”
“This has been the shortest break this season. I have to praise the team’s tremendous workload. Everyone has been working non-stop so that our cars are ready for the Belgian rally, the rally is the shortest distance from our headquarters in the WRC, so most of our team can get there by car. I hope that many of our fans will also make the same journey, it’s been wonderful to see the fans back again.”
