Motorsport's rising star Craig Breen is truly one to watch, writes BOB MONTGOMERY
WHEN A 19 year old from Waterford, who only started rallying seriously in February 2009, wins four separate Rally Championships in 2009 and in the process claims Irish Motorsport's top Rally Award, it's time for those who follow Irish sport to sit up and take notice.
Craig Breen from Kilmurry, Co Waterford, has just been announced the winner of the Billy Coleman Award, a €50,000 support package for rally competition in 2010 which is provided jointly each year by Motorsport Ireland and the Irish Sports Council.
Breen's path to this award was unusual, having cut his teeth in Kart racing, which he started at the age of 11 in the Cadet class. Three national titles followed - Rookies in 2002, JICA in 2004 and Formula A in 2006. In August 2007 he drove in a one-off outing in a local rally, which he didn't enjoy, but served to confirm to him that he should try European Karting. Then, in August 2008 he found time while chasing the European Karting Championship to compete in another rally and this time found himself hooked.
Driving a Citroen C2 in a number of local rallies, he found he was setting competitive stage times. A rethink of what he wanted to achieve in motorsport followed and for 2009 a Ford Fiesta ST was acquired and with backing from Keltech Engineering and Dairwood Design, a busy programme of events was decided upon.
His first outing was in the Galway International Rally in February when he took a second in class. More top results followed on the Malcolm Wilson and Bulldog rallies in the UK.
In April, the plunge was taken to compete in the Portuguese round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) where an outstanding first place in class was taken. As a result, entries were made in the WRC rounds in Finland, Spain and Great Britain. A win in class in the notoriously difficult Finnish Rally plus other good results saw Breen clinch the International Fiesta ST Trophy in the final WRC round in Britain at the end of October. In addition, he won three other rally championships in 2009.
Ask him his ambitions and Breen will unhesitatingly tell you it's to be World Rally Champion. Somehow, you have the feeling it's achievable.
Watch this space!
Past Imperfect returns next week
