Craig Breen - SWRC World Champion

h3000

He only went and done it. Craig Breen became SWRC (Super 2000) world champion. Craig has had some huge highs and devastating lows since he won the WRC Academy championship last year with his friend and co driver Gareth Roberts. Sadly Gareth lost his life in an accident on a round of the IRC last June. With the support of the Roberts and Breen families Craig showed huge courage to get back in a rally car partnered by Killarney's Paul Nagle and to be so quick straight was unbelievable.

He came back in Finland and was leading until he went off on the third last stage. He bounced right back and took the win in Wales followed by another win in France.

He went into this weekend having to finish in front of PG Andersson and he done it. He is the SWRC champion. Incredible drive all year from Craig such a deserved win.

Lets hope he will get the recognition and sponsorship to continue next year.

Well done Craig.

BFassassin

Huge congrats to Craig and Paul.
What an incredible achievement!

Grim.

bbsrs

Impressive series victory , even more so because of the tragedy that befell the team earlier in the year.
Does the win guarantee them a drive next year in WRC or S2000 again? Does it have a monetary prize to part fund a drive next year?

BFassassin

bbsrs wrote: »

Impressive series victory , even more so because of the tragedy that befell the team earlier in the year.
Does the win guarantee them a drive next year in WRC or S2000 again? Does it have a monetary prize to part fund a drive next year?

Dont think there is any money prize at all for winning the swrc. He got half a million for the academy win last year and that covered this season.
Hopefully he gets picked up by a works team or some big sponsors come in now for him.
He deserves it.

h3000

bbsrs wrote: »

Impressive series victory , even more so because of the tragedy that befell the team earlier in the year.
Does the win guarantee them a drive next year in WRC or S2000 again? Does it have a monetary prize to part fund a drive next year?

No prize money or garunteed drive for winning the SWRC. He said he has no budget for next year so unless he gets a big sponsor or two we may not see him on the stages. Pitty

PJ_RS1800

BFassassin wrote: »

He got half a million for the academy win last year and that covered this season.

I doubt it!

bbsrs

PJ_RS1800 wrote: »

I doubt it!

You doubt the half million? or that a half million would have funded his s2000 challenge this year?

h3000

bbsrs wrote: »

You doubt the half million? or that a half million would have funded his s2000 challenge this year?

Half a million most likely would not have covered the full season for him. He would have has to add to it as well.

BFassassin

Yeah it probably didn't cover the whole lot but it certainly helped.

leoch

grt to see him win a great driver but i would say he will be like chris meeke, watching from the side line

bbsrs

So where does a guy like Craig Breen go next ? Without a million in sponsorship behind him it hard to see where he can go.

There are too few works teams in WRC now , it's because it just too expensive to be competitive and too little media coverage to justify the expense . Too tame also . About 10 years ago it was at its best Tommi , Marcus , RB ,McRae , Sainz , Solberg ect. were competing and there were 7 works teams running 4 cars each plus at least 10 privateer teams all running top class machinery. So maybe upto 50 paid drives available.

Next year there are 15 seats with 6 big teams only 3 of which are works teams.

Went to a WRC round last year in Sardinia and it was disappointing , Loeb was a class above every one else , very little noise or thrill watching the cars though compared to 10 years ago.

Bring back the anti lagged 2.0 turbos with that mental fuel they used that smelled so distinctive . You could hear the cars a minute before they arrived and smell em a minute after they were gone . Now that was thrilling to see , hear and smell.

afatbollix

I'd say we will get a Peugeot 208 drive in the ERC. He needs a year or two there to grow and gain some speed and then enter the WRC in a top team.

Robbo

Good piece with Craig on the Last Word

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS8LCqABGxg

bbsrs

Robbo wrote: »

Good piece with Craig on the Last Word

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS8LCqABGxg

1.5 million to run 1 WRC car for a season , I presume this wouldn't include a salary for the driver or would it? How do privateer drivers/co-drivers like Breen/nagle earn a living during a season if it takes up all their time?

wobbles

bbsrs wrote: »

1.5 million to run 1 WRC car for a season , I presume this wouldn't include a salary for the driver or would it? How do privateer drivers/co-drivers like Breen/nagle earn a living during a season if it takes up all their time?

Id say it would cost 1.5million a season to 'hire' the car/mechanics/transportation of the car and team. That figure would not cover driver salary as they are basically paying for the car. Id also say that figure doesnt count towards any damage to the car if he wrecked it.

In order for drivers to put food on the table, they require more money from sponsership deals than it costs to run the team.

Its a pretty sorry state of the sport where exceptional drivers have to pay in order to compete at the highest level. Hopefully Red Bull can turn it around and get us back to the good old days

afatbollix

Nagle still works in the ESB when he is not doing a rally.

afatbollix

http://www.motorsport.ie/craig-breen-brings-2012-season-to-a-close-on-rallye-du-var/

Last rally of the year for Breen. 3 day event with a ridiculous amount of top cars! Breen has no pressure to finish so should be able to push as much as he wants.

Also Kieth Cronan is in the DS3 with about a million others in the class all Citroen and Clios Not one Ford fiestia or a MK2 on the entry list.. mad.

De Hipster

WRC.com Fan Poll for driver of the year - here

Craig may not require many additional votes, as he's quite a way ahead of most of the other drivers:

h3000

SWRC title stage end

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LogtPeLPdTM

h3000

afatbollix wrote: »

http://www.motorsport.ie/craig-breen-brings-2012-season-to-a-close-on-rallye-du-var/

Last rally of the year for Breen. 3 day event with a ridiculous amount of top cars! Breen has no pressure to finish so should be able to push as much as he wants.

Also Kieth Cronan is in the DS3 with about a million others in the class all Citroen and Clios Not one Ford fiestia or a MK2 on the entry list.. mad.

It looks like it could be a great rally, love to watch it.

paddy147

Why does RTE not give good publicity to our Irish motorsport stars??

RTE will hype up and promote useless athletes who finish/crawl in 9th or 12th in a race,but never give any propper coverage to Irish motorsport stars.

Eugene Laverty in WSB (World Super Bike) is never mentioned,especially when he has back to back WSB wins.


Oh and congratts to Craig.

paddy147

bbsrs wrote: »

So where does a guy like Craig Breen go next ? Without a million in sponsorship behind him it hard to see where he can go.

America perhaps???


That super rallycross series with all the 500+bhp Fiestas..and Marcus Gronhoem??

2 litre turboed engines,anti lag........POP POP BANG BANG.:D

51 minutes 30 seconds is interesting indeed.

De Hipster

paddy147 wrote: »

Why does RTE not give good publicity to our Irish motorsport stars??

RTE will hype up and promote useless athletes who finish/crawl in 9th or 12th in a race,but never give any propper coverage to Irish motorsport stars.

Eugene Laverty in WSB (World Super Bike) is never mentioned,especially when he has back to back WSB wins.


Oh and congratts to Craig.

Motorsport in Ireland used to have great coverage - remember the COI nightly reports (albeit on Northern channels - UTV). Also the dedication and interest of the like of some journalists has possibly waned somewhat - Michael Lister used to be a great advocate of the sport, John Kenny & Peter Collins interests ensured positive coverage on a relatively regular basis.

For more recent times - nothing sells in Ireland like tragedy - for RTÉ motorsport is evil!

Motorsport is a dangerous, wreckless non-sport:

• with no football/sloitar/golfball/whatever involved,
• which is difficult to effectively televise and cover accurately
• with no real central PR machine - MSI sporadically cover events/competitors/championships

Added to the above is the fact that incidents (like that at the Cavan Rally in May this year) make massive headlines for the nations blood-thirsty 'fdg'ers & of course - never forgetting ...encourages young impressionable lads to speed & wreak havoc on our roads etc., etc, etc.

Also ...a few more heroic stories along the lines of Craig Breen's & his achievements & less of the 'Rally-driver shame' headlines (not to mention any individuals) would go a long way.

afatbollix

He was 3rd overall but had a puncture on stage 4

afatbollix

An other puncture yesterday but Craig Breen finished a fantastic 3rd overall.. This is the first rally where I think Breen is world class.

Kubica's car after a crash today the car went on fire but crew are both ok.

h3000

afatbollix wrote: »

An other puncture yesterday but Craig Breen finished a fantastic 3rd overall.. This is the first rally where I think Breen is world class.

Kubica's car after a crash today the car went on fire but crew are both ok.

He really put in some amazing times this weekend. I think he showed that he really can compete at a very high level.

wobbles

afatbollix wrote: »

An other puncture yesterday but Craig Breen finished a fantastic 3rd overall.. This is the first rally where I think Breen is world class.

Kubica's car after a crash today the car went on fire but crew are both ok.

Real shame for Kubica, as he was doing so well. Car looked class as well.

Breen is not only quick, but very professional as well. His interview skills are very good, a very big plus for any team. He has done a lot of testing for the 208 this year so he knows the 208 inside out. Really hope they take him on for a year or two. The WRC seems to be coming back again with news teams, so hopefully he might get a chance with a new team in a few year

h3000

wobbles wrote: »

Real shame for Kubica, as he was doing so well. Car looked class as well.

Breen is not only quick, but very professional as well. His interview skills are very good, a very big plus for any team. He has done a lot of testing for the 208 this year so he knows the 208 inside out. Really hope they take him on for a year or two. The WRC seems to be coming back again with news teams, so hopefully he might get a chance with a new team in a few year

He has been testing the R2 though and he would be looking at the R5 when it's ready. Still he seems to be having a good relationship with Peugeot though which won't do any harm.

afatbollix

He was at Peugeot Ireland 2 weeks ago