Breen heads to final day in Sweden battling for maiden win

If he is going to pick up his first win in the World Rally Championship, Craig Breen is going to have to do it coming from behind and by beating his former teammate in the process.

After three days of racing in Sweden, Breen is second, having set the fastest time on four of the fifteen stages on offer. He's gone tit-for-tat with his old teammate Ott Tänak all weekend. The Estonian and the Irish man have exchanged blows since Thursday in what's been an epic battle.

This is the only snow rally of 2023 on the WRC stage and Breen has gone well here before. He has stood on the second step of a WRC podium five times and the first time it happened was in Sweden in 2018, when driving for Citroen.

The night stage on Thursday saw Kalle Rovanperä send his Toyota Yaris quickest around the circuit to take an early lead, but on Friday morning in the chilling temperatures, it was the Waterford man who set to pace on the second stage by some 3.8 seconds. The drive sent him into second place and laid a marker down for the others in the paddock.

#WRC 🇸🇪 SS2 STAGE WIN 🙌🏼 @Craig_Breen & @J_Fuzzy_Fulton secure their first stage for @RallySweden 👏🏼#HMSGOfficial | #RallySweden pic.twitter.com/g60UrPVTQH

— hmsgofficial (@HMSGOfficial) February 10, 2023

Good spins in the third and fourth stages kept Breen within 2 seconds of Tänak , who had claimed the lead after the second stage with his cumulative times. The good work was rewarded on the fifth stage with a superb effort on the 10.76km trip forcing a 9-second turnaround on Tänak in the Puma which Breen vacated in December for the Estonian to slide into.

"I never had anything like that before," Breen said of his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID. "More of that please, yeah": he added.

#WRC 🇸🇪 @Craig_Breen & @J_Fuzzy_Fulton take the rally lead on SS5 🙌🏼#HMSGOfficial #RallySweden pic.twitter.com/rEgLPcamGz

— hmsgofficial (@HMSGOfficial) February 10, 2023

Breen went back-to-back with another fastest time to win stage seven and extend his lead at the top to +10 seconds. Tänak and Rovanperä traded wins on stages seven and eight but by the end of Friday's outing, the Waterford driver was still 2 seconds ahead.

"Really happy to be leading the rally overnight after the Friday stages," said Breen. He added that he "enjoyed it so much, honestly. I've missed that feeling of being right at the front fighting for the lead. It was really great".

Craig Breen (IRL) Paul Nagle (GB) Of team HYUNDAI SHELL MOBIS WORLD RALLY TEAM are seen performing during the World Rally Championship Sweden in Umea, Sweden on 10,February // Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool

It's been some time since Breen has had 'that feeling'. Rally Sardinia 2022 is the last time he took a podium with a personal best equaling second-place finish. 2022 on the whole, did not go to plan.

He had been given a full-time drive for the first time in his career when he signed for M-Sport Ford. Breen was to lead the Cumbrian team into a new era in Rally. It was the start of the Hybrid days and Ford was set to challenge the recent dominance of Toyota and Hyundai.

These are his results for that year.

The six events where he ended up out the back are likely a large part of why Ford called it a day. He finished last year's run in Sweden 36th after one of a number of mishaps that blighted his time in the Ford. There were positives, however. An early form-finder in Monte Carlo, with another podium in Italy, were the standout moments - but ultimately there were only four top-five finishes. The full ins and outs of why it didn't work out for Craig and Ford are a different story, for someone else to tell.

His co-driver Paul Nagle retired from the sport at the second to last event of last season to make matters worse. James Fulton who had spent time with Breen at Ford, joined him for what turned out to be his final drive in the car. Fulton remains the other half of the duo for 2023 as this part-time package.

Craig Breen (IRL) and Paul Nagle (GBR) Of team M-Sport Ford WRT are seen during World Rally Championship Spain in Salou, Spain on October 23, 2022 // Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool

A lot happened at the end of last season and it's hard to fathom how Breen must have felt with nothing certain for the future.

He had finally gotten his chance and it had not worked. It's all very public and while rallying is not as popular as it once was in Ireland, it's still huge in other parts of the world with a rabid fan base and big-time sponsors. It is not a cheap sport to compete in. Parts and labour can squeeze the books when you're at the top level.

M-Sport Ford Team Principal, Richard Millener noted in his statement at the time that "We all knew the potential that was there. Unfortunately, though, sometimes things just don’t quite click and this is the reality of the situation we face.”

It was announced that Breen would return to Hyundai, rotating a car with Spaniard Dani Sordo who had notched 54 podiums and three wins.

Sordo got the nod for Monte Carlo in January, finishing seventh.

Breen has always been known to generally go well in the snow, so it was inevitable that he would head for Sweden. It proved to be the right choice for new Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul, having made the switch to Rally following a hiatus from Formula 1, where he previously headed up Renault.

Breen's driving on Friday was an exhibition in proving the doubters wrong. Yes, he is as good as they thought he was and last year is a thing of the past.

Saturday was another top-class display with a win on stage 10 while pushing for top-4 fastest times on the other stages. Tänak was held at bay for the afternoon with Breen's Hyundai teammate Thierry Neuville claiming wins on the 13th, 14th, and 15th stages. It was later revealed that Breen and Fulton were struggling with a dodgy hybrid unit that saw him surrender precious time to his rivals. There was also a scare with a not quite fully pumped tyre, and a close encounter with a snow bank which was sure to conjure some scary memories.

Tänak has eight seconds on Breen ahead of Sunday morning. They've got two regular stages left before the final "power" stage.

They get underway at about 6 am. You can watch the closing stages on BT Sport 1 from 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM, with a coffee and a paper, and WLR turned on in the kitchen.

Craig has been here before, and second place remains his best finish to date.

64 km and 8.6 seconds are all that stand between Breen and a first-ever win in the World Rally Championship.

Wouldn't it be the mother and father of all statements if he can go and do it?

Craig Breen (IRL) Paul Nagle (GB) Of team HYUNDAI SHELL MOBIS WORLD RALLY TEAM are seen performing during the World Rally Championship Sweden in Umea, Sweden on 11,February // Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool