Pirelli Star Driver!

Hi all,

Me and Gareth competed in the Pirelli International rally at the weekend. The rally started on Friday evening, with two stages. We were caught in Kris Halls dust, after he sustained a puncture, and lost some time, however we pushed hard on stage 2, and ended the day with a 6 second lead in the Fiesta's, and 13th overall.

Saturday started off very slowly, we were still building our confidence after last weekends off in the Circuit of Ireland. our lead was cut down to as little as 2 seconds, but we had enough in reserve to build our lead back up to 15 seconds. After SS6, the Fiesta Sport Trophy rally finished, which we had won! We had no time to dwell, as we were straight back out onto the stages for the second loop. However a devastating fire for Guy Wilks caused SS8, SS9, ans SS10 cancelled for the international rally.

At this point, we were 11th overall, and only 1 second ahead of Marty McCormack for top two wheel drive honours. We started SS11, in high hopes of stepping the pace up a notch or two, to fend off Marty, which we did so. We were 20 seconds faster on SS11, and 8 seconds on SS12, despite getting caught in Rob Swann's dust as we were starting to catch him. We were indeed 8th quickest overall on the last stage!

This signalled the end of the rally, and when all the times were added, we finished 10th overall, 1st two wheel drive, 1st in class R3, coupled with the Fiesta Sport Trophy win early in the day.

We returned to Carlisle racecourse, where we had our champagne celebrations.

However this was not the end. I was then approached by Mr BRC, Mark Taylor, and told there was a further presentation to be made to me. I was the Pirelli Star Driver for the day! This means I got to wear the coveted yellow jersey, and recieve automatic nomination for the Pirelli Star driver shootout at the end of the year for a fully funded drive in a Group N car in the British Rally Championship! Good news or what!

I was chuffed, and it was the end of my epic four week journey. A win in the Fiesta Sport Trophy Intenational, the the Irish series, and now the UK series, a feat that has never been done before, let alone one week after the other.

I have a break this weekend (for a change!), so I will be hoping to get back on top of my training again, and preparing myself for the next rally, the Rally of the Lakes in two weeks time.

In the mean time, please continue to visit the website for more updates and news.

See you soon

Craig

Highs and Lows!

Hi All,

At the weekend, me and Gareth embarked on our fist Tarmac rally together, the world famous Circuit of Ireland Rally. It was the second round of the Kick Energy Fiesta Sport Trophy Ireland series, while also being the second round of the Irish Tarmac Rally championship.

The Fiesta Trophy took place only on day 1, giving us the option to compete on day two for Irish Tarmac Championship Honours.

The day started resonably OK, as we settled ourselves back into tarmac rallying once more. By stage 3 we were setting fastest times, and we fought very hard with Mark Donelly from Omagh, and despite having some brake problems and a slight off, we won the Fiesta series. We were very happy with our days work, and we ended the day in 12th O/A and leading the N3 class.

However, day 2 started with two runs over the classic Slieve Gullion Forest Park. There was heavy fog on the stage, and I saw this as an oppertunity to make up time, as I felt other people would not commit 100% in the bad conditions, a decision I now regret. It was about two miles into the challenging test, and we came to a fast left hand corner in fifth gear, which I tried to take flat out, the car got light over a crest, and snapped violently around, we hit a stone embankment with the back of the car, and we were thrown into a violent roll, which we continued to do several times before the car came to a rest on the inside of the road. It was a very big accident, but thankfully both me and Gareth were fine, the same however could not be said for the car.

We are now faced with the problem that we have no car for this weekends Pirelli International Rally, which is the third round of the Fiesta Sport Trophy UK series, and the second round of the British Rally Championship. We are busy trying to come up with a solution, and we can gurantee that we will be in Carlisle this week to take the start.

That's all for now, please come back and visit for more updates.

Craig

Winners!

Well, what a hectic few weeks its been! But it's been well worth it!

Two weeks ago, me and Gareth competed in the Bulldog International Rally. This was the second round of the Fiesta Sport Trophy UK series, while also the first round of the British Rally Championship. It was my first time making pacenotes on Gravel, and it was a great experience. We finished 10th overall, and second in the Fiesta Sport Trophy Standings.

We travelled straight from here to Portugal, to compete in the first round of the Fiesta Sport Trophy International, as well as a round of the World Rally Championship. The week started on Tuesday, with two hard days Recce, making pacenotes for the 18 tough stages ahead.

After this, we participated in the Shakedown on Thursday, where we instantly set the pace in the Fiesta Class. The rally started that night, with a 2km blast around the Algarve Stadium in a head to head style race. We were paired with the German Patrick Anglade, and we won it with a second to spare

The real rally started on Friday, where we instantly set the pace. We continued a winning streak all weekend, having fastest stage time on all but 2 of the 18 special stages. It was an amazing feat, and we won our class by just under five minutes. We also matched the record for the highest place for a Fiesta ST cup car to finish in a World Rally Championship, which was 25th overall.

On the Monday after the event, I got a passenger spin with Ford World Rally Team driver Jari - Matti Latvala. It was an amazing experience, and an eye opener for what lies ahead!

We do not have long to celebrate however, because as I write this, I am packing my bags, getting ready to go and do the Recce for the Circuit of Ireland Rally, the second round of the FST Ireland series.

Please stay tuned to craigbreen.com for more updates over the coming weeks.

Craig