Craig Breen prepares for Circuit of Ireland with victory in Portugal

larsen coi Craig Breen prepares for Circuit of Ireland with victory in Portugal

Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts equals record finish as FSTi gets underway in Portugal

The 2009 Fiesta SportTrophy International (FSTi) kicked off this weekend at the fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship, the Vodafone Rally de Portugal, showcasing many drivers who were making their first competitive experience on a WRC event. The opening round of the six race series was dominated by Irishman Craig Breen (19) and Welsh co-driver Gareth Roberts (21) finishing 25th in the overall standings which equals the record of 2007 FSTi champion Barry Clark (fittingly, a record first set in Portugal two years ago).

Second place went to Patrick Anglade and co-driver Björn Röhm (29). The 21-year-old from Germany, who was competing in his first ever gravel rally and his first WRC event outside his homeland, also achieved an outstanding overall finish position of 30th. Team Abu Dhabi had a great start to their season as Ahmed Al Mansoori (22) took third place with Irishman Killian Duffy (26) reading the notes. There was disappointment for their team mates as Bader Al Jabri (24) and co-driver Stephen McAuley and Majed Al Shamsi (28) and co-driver Allan Harryman had to retire from the rally after both rolled their cars on Day Two. On his return to FSTi for a second season, Russia’s Denis Grodetskiy and co-driver Safoniy Lotko were forced out of the rally two stages from the end with an oil leak.

A spectacular 2.2km Super Special stage in the Algarve Stadium marked the start of the rally on Thursday night and with thousands of fans inside the arena it was a great experience for the young drivers. Breen started as he meant to go on leading the FSTi cars home ahead of Anglade and Al Mansoori.

Day 1 saw the competitors tackle 136 km of rough and rocky stages in the Algarve hills. Breen made his mark on the competition, winning all three morning stages and building up a lead over the consistent Anglade. There were just seconds between the Team Abu Dhabi drivers all morning with Al Mansoori marginally taking the edge. SS2 saw Al Jabri finish just 0.2 seconds behind Al Mansoori, although Al Jabri left himself with work to do after beaching the car at a hairpin corner on SS4 and losing just under four minutes. Grodetskiy posted a strong time only 25.3 seconds slower than Breen over 22 km on SS6, an amazing feat given that the boot of his Fiesta ST had opened midway through the stage, filling the car with dust until the crew could barely see the road ahead. He continued into the last stage of the morning in a similar condition, so was relieved when he could take the car to be fixed in service. Going into the midday service, Breen led Anglade by 31.8 seconds, with Grodetskiy just 19.3 seconds behind the German and Al Mansoori a mere 0.5 seconds in fourth position.

The morning’s stages were repeated for the afternoon, albeit with significantly rougher sections after the first run through. Breen took the fastest times on each stage, with Anglade always close behind him in second. Grodetskiy lost over seven minutes with a puncture on SS5, dropping him from third to last after that stage. But worse was to come for Al Mansoori, whose damaged clutch went on to affect his gearbox, bringing the car to a halt and incurring a ten minute penalty under SupeRally regulations. Al Jabri damaged his hub on SS5, a problem which he thought he’d carried into SS7, only realising at the end of the stage that he had sustained a puncture. Al Shamsi also suffered a puncture five km from the end of SS5. With a third of the WRC field in retirement by the end of the first day, the FSTi drivers were going exceptionally well, with Breen leading the way to Anglade and then Al Shamsi.

Day 2 saw the cancellation of SS9 and SS12, meaning that the drivers only needed to complete four stages that day. While Breen continued his charge at the head of the field, Al Shamsi’s rally came to an abrupt end as he rolled on SS10, while Grodetskiy lost time on the same stage when he hit a rock, losing the front left wheel and breaking the rear beam, ending his rally for that day.

Later that afternoon, Al Jabri was forced out of the rally when he rolled in exactly the same place as team mate Al Shamsi on the second pass of the stage. Breen’s luck changed when he suffered a front left puncture on SS13, nine kms from the end. Fortunately the Irishman had built up a big enough cushion over the chasing Anglade not to affect his time. Al Mansoori took his first stage win by just 3.1 seconds to Anglade. In another day of high attrition that witnessed nearly 40% of the field having stopped, four Fiestas now remained.

Like the previous day, Day 3 saw the cancellation of SS15 and SS17, again due to accidents higher up the field. The morning’s stages passed without incident, while the afternoon claimed Grodetskiy, forcing him to retire due to an oil leak. Anglade was overjoyed to take his first stage win on SS1, earning him one extra point in the standings.

Breen, Anglade and Al Mansoori returned from the final gravel stage to a crowd of thousands awaiting them in the Algarve Stadium Super Special, where Breen claimed his final victorious stage win by one second to Anglade and 12.6 seconds to Al Mansoori.

The next event on the FSTi calendar will be Rally d’Italia Sardegna in May, followed by Rally Poland, Rally de España and closing in Wales Rally GB.

FSTi winner Craig Breen (19) from the Republic of Ireland said:
“I’m ecstatic! It’s been a really good week even though the conditions have been quite difficult throughout the rally. Everything’s gone extremely well and we’ve been really lucky that we’ve only had one real problem all weekend. The efforts of Tom [Gahan] and the team have really paid off with this class win and I just can’t believe we’ve equalled the record for highest finishing Fiesta. I badly wanted this win – I’m absolutely over the moon!”

FST take to the Circuit!

The second round of the Fiesta SportTrophy (FST) Ireland takes place this weekend as crew’s head for the Larsen Circuit of Ireland International Rally. Ten fiesta crews will take part in the event which is based in a new location for 2009, Dundalk. The event, which is organised by The Ulster Automobile Club, will see crews take part in two gruelling days of asphalt action covering a total of over 120 competitive stage miles.

Two competitors are taking full use of the “dual” format of the FST Ireland series and have entered the International event so that they are eligible to score points not only in the FST but also in the Irish Tarmac Championship. The first of these is Craig Breen (18) from Waterford and co-driver Gareth Roberts. Breen has had an incredibly busy start to the year and finished second overall on round one of the series as well as second overall in the FST on the second round of the UK series. Breen is competing in Rally Portugal as this release goes to press and will be hoping his large amount of seat time will help him to get his first elusive FST win. Also competing in the International event is FST regular Kyle Orr (19) from Dromore and navigator Rob Fagg. Orr finished a respectable fifth FST on the Bulldog Rally and went on to complete the |nternational event after the FST event was declared final. Orr is looking to mount a full attack on all the remaining rounds of the IE and UK series, he will be hoping the Circuit of Ireland will give him a good result to start his Irish campaign.

Away from the International event there are a number of other competitors competing within the National section of the event and the FST event.

Mark Donnelly (17) from Omagh, and navigator Paddy Robinson are competing in both the IE and UK FST series. With a third overall on the second round of the UK series and an impressive eighth overall on the National Rally in Galway the Irish youngster is showing more speed with every outing. The Circuit could be a great opportunity for him to take his first victory.

Third-place man in Galway, Paul Quinn (20) from Dungannon, has just finished repairing his car after a big accident on a non-championship local event. The third overall driver in last years FST series will be eager to find his rhythm again and get back to winning ways. Quinn will look to build on his third overall in Galway.

FST regular Liam Regan (20) from Belfast and co-driver Steven Park have only switched to tarmac this year and are still building experience on the new surface. After a steady sixth overall on the first round Regan will look to build on this result and gain some more points to put towards his FST IE campaign.

Stephen Wright (18) from Co. Monaghan and co-driver Paul McGee suffered a retirement on round one and will want to complete the event next weekend and score some vitally needed points. Wright showed good pace at the end of 2008 and hopes he will be able to recreate this in Dundalk.

Desi Henry (19) from Port Glenone and John Rowan only joined the FST series late last year and are still learning the car. With two FST event finishes out of two started Henry has a 100% finishing record and will aim to continue this on the Circuit as well as scoring good FST points.

Garrett Loughran from Ballygawley and navigator brother Philip Loughran will hope to put their first round woes behind them. With an Insurance discrepancy it meant that Garrett had to use a last minute step in navigator to allow him to compete, now back in their familiar partnership the duo will hope they can make an impressive mark on the FST series.

Shane Buckley (24) from Ballyhaunis and Thomas Maguire suffered an off in Galway dropping them from third to seventh overall. Buckley will want to get back the third place he was destined for on the previous round and prove that he is capable of taking an event win.

The final FST competitor will be newcomer to the Irish series Robbie Barrable (21) from Dublin. Barrable aims to complete the remainder of both the IE and UK series. As an ex-Formula Ford champion he will hope that his speed and experience on tarmac will leave him in a good position to challenge the regular drivers in the series.

Crews will compete for prize-money on each event of the series with the top eight sharing a total of €2,295 per round.

Runner up in Galway, Craig Breen said:
“Me and Gareth [Roberts] are looking forward to getting back onto the tarmac, and pushing for our first Fiesta SportTrophy win. Obviously with the absence of Alistair [Fisher] it will be very different to Galway, but there are a number of other guys that are going to be pushing hard to try and get the top spot. It will be a good challenge for me for sure”