Breen gets a grip at the Pirelli

The third round of the Kick Energy Fiesta SportTrophy took place over the weekend at the Pirelli International Rally. Based in the border town of Carlisle, the event took in some of the most famous stages in the North of the country including tests in the largest man made forest complex in Europe, Kielder. The FST event was fought out over the first six stages of the British Rally Championship event, approx 51 miles, including two stages on Friday evening. At the conclusion of the FST event it was Craig Breen (18) from Waterford and navigator Gareth Roberts who would hold off the competition to take victory from nearest rivals Kyle Orr and Rob Fagg by 11.7 seconds. Craig would continue to compete in the International event in a bid to score BRC points, where he would end the day in a magnificent 10th overall, as well as first 2wd car home in the International event. The combination of his excellent performances during the day also caught the eyes of the Pirelli Star Driver competition judges and the young Irishman was awarded the famous yellow jersey which sees him gain a place in the end of year 2009 Star Driver shootout with a top prize of a fully funded drive in the BRC, the prize Adam Gould, another ex-Fiesta competitor is currently enjoying. Breen showed during the weekend that although a newcomer to the series he is proving to be quick and starting to attract the attention of some of the sports most important decision makers. However, the FST victory was not an easy straight forward win for Breen. The event began on Friday night with 17 miles of stages. The first test for the crews was the 8.53 miles of Glen Dhu. The FST crews were split between the BRC event and the BRC Challenge event, with the BRC crews running first on the road it was still light as the leading entry, nineteen-year-old Kris Hall from Appleby, and stand in navigator for this event Barry McNulty started the test. It would however be disaster for the Round one winner, whilst cutting only the second corner of the stage he would sustain a puncture; Hall would drop over two minutes in the stage dropping him a long way down the order. Mark Donnelly (18) from Omagh and co-driver Paddy Robinson would take the early lead stopping the clocks on 9.40.7. Tom Walster (23) from Nottingham and regular navigator Tim Sturla had decided to enter the event in their Fiesta and showed they were still on the pace by putting in a time of 9.43.6, to take second quickest, Breen would take third quickest after being slowed by Hall’s dust. Meanwhile, in the BRC challenge event, Round 2 winner Matt Edwards (24) from Cockermouth would be first on the road and although running later during the evening and with the light fading and the lack of a recce he still set a time of 9.49.1, an impressive achievement which allowed him to stay in contention with the leaders. Further down the field some other crews were having tough times. Martyn Jones (22) from the Isle of Man and navigator Kris Killip hit a concrete bridge bending their rear axle dropping them time. Harry Hunt (20) from London and new navigator Steve McPhee, was feeling the pain of driving after falling off his motorbike only days before the event, the sustained injuries meant he was struggling to change gear and would drop time, although he was thoroughly enjoying the evening tests. Stevie Brown (21) from Peterhead and navigator Andrew Roughead had only third gear from the stage start after the gear cables came loose, although the crew would complete the opening leg but drop time in the process. Crews next headed to the second stage of the event and the last of Friday night, 8.70 miles of the Valley. Breen would find his form on this stage and take the fastest time. Kyle Orr (19) from Dromore and co-driver Rob Fagg would show their speed by taking second quickest with Donnelly taking third quickest only 1.5 seconds slower than Orr. Heading into the overnight halt the top three would be Breen, Donnelly and Orr. The second day of the event saw the crews take in four stages in quick succession with no service between any of the tests. With clear blue skies the stages all based in the Kielder complex would be fast and exciting and ensure the competition in the FST remained close. Stage 3 of the event, the 6.98 miles of Pundershaw would see Walster take fastest time, two seconds quicker than Hall who was now under no pressure after losing time on the opening leg. Orr would be third quickest and in doing so close the gap to rally leader Breen. It would be a bad start to the day however for Donnelly, after lying second overall at the end of leg one, he would slide wide in the first stage and hit a rock bending the rear beam, with no chance to repair it he would have to tackle the next three stages with the car damaged, this would cause him to lose time on every stage and slip down the field as the day progressed. The 8.30 miles of Trinket was the next test for the crews, the second test of the morning would see the demise of Kris Hall, after getting into a rhythm he slid wide on a corner and off the road, the resulting damage to the underside of the car meant it forced his retirement and he would not score points for the rally. Orr would improve his pace further and score his first fastest time of the day and with this move into the lead of the event. Walster would take second fastest with Breen third. Barry Greer (21) from Carryduff and navigator Susanne Wright (sister of Irish FST runner Stephen Wright) set fourth quickest time, the Irish pairing having a good run on the fast stages. Edwards was comfortably leading the Challenge rally and the main competitor pushing the BRC runners, but he would pick up a puncture during the stage and lose 30s. The penultimate stage of the rally was the longest in length, 11.57 miles of Roughside. The stage would see the lead once again change with Orr setting joint third quickest time with Walster. Edwards would be second quickest - back up to speed after his time loss on the previous stage but Breen would take the stage win and move back into the lead to enter the final stage with a 3.8 second cushion over Orr. It was looking like it could be a close finish to the event. Meanwhile, this stage would see the retirement of the second FST crew of the day, Neil Coalter (26) from Peterculter and co-driver Hannah Cessford, after setting good times in the challenge event and looking for their first points of the season the crew were caught out and slid off the road, they were unable to get back onto the stage and were forced to retire, an unfortunate end to their event. All that now remained for the FST crews was the final 7.26 miles of Chirdonhead. Edwards knew he was not in contention for the win going into the final stage of the event but was desperate to try and get on the podium, however, whilst pushing hard he was caught out and sent him off the road and into a bog, a concerted effort by the crew and spectators got them going again but he lost around 22 minutes and all hopes of a good haul of championship points - a disappointing end for the youngster who was also comfortably leading the Challenge event overall at the time. Back with the International runners Breen knew that Orr was very close behind so he gave it his all and was rewarded, coming out of the stage with the fastest time and the event win, Walster would be second quickest on the stage and finish third FST crew overall and Orr would be third quickest on the stage but finish second overall in the final classification, his best finish so far this year. Away from the podium, other crews had a successful day. Donnelly continued even with his damage and finished a respectable fourth overall. Ross Forde (25) from Galway and navigator Gary McElhinney completed the event with no dramas and set some promising times during the event to finish fifth overall. Patrick Malley (24) from New Zealand and co-driver Malcolm Read got to the end of their first UK event, happy that they had completed the mileage. John Boyd (22) from West Linton and co-driver Fred Bell are improving with every event and finished 10th in the FST as well as third overall in the BRC Challenge event, whilst Tom Watson (18) from Glanamman was very pleased to finish another event, and quoted he had got on far better with his new navigator Ken Bowman - hopefully it will be the start of a successful relationship. The final FST crew to finish were Jamie Brown (17) from Norwich and Craig Burgess, Brown is only competing on his second ever rally, after admitting he loved the night stages he saw off a couple of big moments during Saturday to bring home his car 14th overall FST. As Breen celebrated his FST win, himself as well as Walster, Orr, Forde, Greer, Jones and Malley went out to continue with the remainder of the International event. With all these crews completing the event and scoring BRC points as well as Craig becoming top 2wd car and Pirelli star driver nominee, the FST had six crews in the top 20 of the International event, a superb achievement and a great end to the third round of the series. The next round of the championship moves away from the BRC format for one event for the RSAC Scottish Rally on the 26th June. Event Winner, Craig Breen, said: “I am over the moon. To win in Portugal (the Fiesta SportTrophy International class, on the Rallye de Portugal), win (the Fiesta SportTrophy Ireland round) on the Circuit of Ireland and now come to here to England and win again, what more could I ask for? It was an incredible day. But as I was being presented with my Fiesta awards, I was suddenly called to the interview area and was then presented with the Pirelli Star Driver award for the Rally! To say that I’m absolutely shocked about this is an understatement. I never expected to win the International, Irish and British Fiesta rounds one after another - but to then win the Pirelli Star Driver as well, was the icing on the cake”