Ben from Paddock Eye catches up with Craig Breen following his solid finish at Rally Sweden.
How did Rally Sweden go for you?
It was quite good we met the target we set prior to the rally which was to try and finish in the top five so in the end we were happy with the result.
As you are not in the car this weekend, what will your role be within the team?
We are just here to do the reci, so on Tuesday and Wednesday we did the pre-event reci just to get familiar with the event, it’s an event we have never done before so, we’ll leave now on Saturday and the rest of the guys will take part in the event so no nothing else more to do this time.
Looking forward to rally cores next month, Citroen will have three C3’s in action, and how beneficial will this be to the team in terms of gathering data for the rest of the season?
I don’t know about gathering data, but it will be a lot more difficult task with one extra car, an event like that can be difficult so it is going to be difficult for the team, but yeah, it’s nice to be finally all out together - no one will be sitting on the side-lines like they have been or driving the older car. I’m really looking forward to it.
We are all looking forward to seeing how the car has improved since the last time on tarmac in Monte so it should be good.
How are you and the team feeling following the opening two events of the championship?
I’m quite happy, it Monte it was a big surprise with the old car to be up so far and fighting so far up to the front of the field so I was really happy with that and ok in Sweden and sometimes we struggled. We struggled in places and we know we have some work to do and everybody’s prepared to do it so we have a lot of the season to go. The guys and the drivers are really motivated, so it’s a nice place to be.
Having been in Mexico for a few day during the week have you had time to relax and enjoy the warm temperatures or are you focused on looking forward to the rest of the season?
Well we’ve had one or two days rest just with the time difference and then we are straight into the reci. Today is a day off for all of the guys who are in Mexico City for the super special so there’s not really a whole lot on the agenda today.
Out of the remaining rallies this season, which one sticks out most for you that you are most looking forward to?
Probably Corsica, obviously Ireland is primarily tarmac rallies so Corsica is the first time I’ll get to drive the new car on tarmac so between that and for obvious reasons after last year, that is the event that I am most looking forward to.
Will you be able to take any of your experience from tarmac rallies in Ireland to bring forward to Corsica or is it something completely different in terms of the tarmac lay-out?
It’s probably the event that’s most similar to back home in the world championship, it’s a bit narrower and bumpy, but yeah for sure I can take some things from back home, I haven’t been in recent years but certainly when I started off it was a good breeding ground, a good place to learn how to drive on tarmac especially with the bumpy tarmac we will have in Corsica so you never know we might be able to bring something back home.
Ben from Paddock Eye
