ERC: Breen storms through snow for Latvia win
Craig Breen has won the second round of the 2015 FIA European Rally Championship, Rally Liepaja in Latvia, after a faultless drive in his Peugeot Rally Academy 208 T16.
Co-driven by Great Britain's Scott Martin, the 25-year old Irishman mastered the most difficult of winter conditions, with thawing ice and slippery wet snow on day one and heavy blizzards of snow and freezing fog on day two.
Breen's last ERC win was on last March's Acropolis Rally in Greece, when he went on to give the 208 T16 a famous victory on its ERC debut.
"It was really a rally of attrition in tough conditions, but when we were pushing we were only beaten on one stage by 0.7s so we always had the speed," said Breen, who triumphed by 1m 40.7s. "Things changed very quickly but we stuck to our pace and this is an awesome result.
"You have to go back through the history books, to the 1960s, for the last time an Irishman won on snow. It's a big boost for me and after winning on gravel and Tarmac in Greece last year I've now won on snow so that makes me a bit of an all-rounder.
"Hopefully this will be the first of many this year and the championship challenge is very much back on. Who can forget the next rally of the year is the Circuit of Ireland and we'll be coming back there with a win under our belts just like last year."
With other R5 and Super 2000 crews hitting problems, an incredible results table saw three ERC2 contenders (R4 production cars) finishing in the top four and three ERC Juniors (R2) finishing in the top 10. Siim Plangi held second place in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X from SS5 onwards, winning ERC2 ahead of Dominykas Butvilas and Martins Svilis (third and fourth overall respectively) to claim 7000 Euros in prize money. Even more extraordinary was the performance of the ERC Junior winner Emil Bergkvist, who finished sixth overall in his ADAC Opel Rallye Junior Team Opel Adam R2.
Out of the top category four-wheel drive cars that did complete all the stages, Robert Consani (Peugeot 207 S2000) grew in confidence as the event progressed and was delighted to reach the finish in fifth to main his ERC title challenge.
Rear axle problems on the final day couldn't stop Raul Jeets completing the top 10 in his MM-Motorsport Ford Fiesta R5, behind ERC2 runner Janis Vorobjovs, Juniors Steve Rokland and Ralfs Sirmacis in positions 7 through to 9.
The ERC now heads to Breen's homeland now for the Circuit of Ireland Rally, which will run from April 2-4.
Top 10 positions (after 11 stages, 205.73 kilometres)
1. Craig Breen (IRL)/Scott Martin (GBR) Peugeot 208 T16 1h56m49.1s
2. Siim Plangi (EST)/Marek Sarapuu (EST) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X +1m40.7s ERC2
3. Dominykas Butvilas (LIT)/Kamil Heller (POL) Subaru Impreza WRX STI +5m48.6s ERC2
4. M?rtin? Svilis (LVA)/Ivo P??is (LVA) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X +6m39.2s ERC2
5. Robert Consani (FRA)/Maxime Vilmot (FRA) Peugeot 207 S2000 +6m51.5s
6. Emil Bergkvist (SWE)/Joakim Sj?berg (SWE) Opel Adam R2 +7m29.9s Junior
7. Janis Vorobjovs (LVA)/Andris Malnieks (LVA) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X +7m58.0s ERC2
8. Steve Rokland (NOR)/James Aldridge (GBR) Peugeot 208 R2 +8m00.0s Junior
9. Ralfs Sirmacis (LVA)/Art?rs ?imins (LVA) Peugeot 208 R2 +8m09.1s Junior
10. Raul Jeets (EST)/Andrus Toom (EST) Ford Fiesta R5 +8m36.0s
FIA ERC2: Siim Plangi (EST)/Marek Sarapuu (EST) (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X)FIA ERC3: Emil Bergkvist (SWE)/Joakim Sj?berg (SWE) (Opel Adam R2)FIA ERC Junior: Emil Bergkvist (SWE)/Joakim Sj?berg (SWE) (Opel Adam R2)ERC Ladies' Trophy: Inessa Tushkanova (RUS) (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX)Colin McRae ERC Flat Out Trophy: Ralfs Sirmacis (LVA) (Peugeot 208 R2)
