Climbing through the ranks
From such an early age you knew Craig was destined to do great things.
Craig was the son of Ray Breen, a national champion in Irish rallying. He began karting in 1999 in Ireland. He began rallying in 2007, combining it with karting commitments in Europe in 2008.
In 2009 he made the full-time switch to rallying, competing in the Irish, British and International Fiesta Sporting Trophys, winning all three championships.
He also went on to win the Fiesta Sport Trophy International Shootout and was award a twelve month contract with M-Sport. For his achievements Breen was crowned Young Irish Rally Driver of the Year and received the Billy Coleman Award.
In 2010 he debuted the Ford Fiesta S2000 in both British Rally Championship and the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. He took his first BRC victory on the 2010 Ulster Rally and went on to finish 2nd overall in the ITC.
In 2013, Breen and co-driver Paul Nagle was signed by Peugeot to lead their ERC campaign called ‘Peugeot Rally Academy’. Breen was successful, achieving five podium places during the season, and eventually finishing 3rd overall, missing out on the runner-up spot by only four points.
Breen won his first ERC rally at the 2014 Acropolis Rally in Greece, driving a Peugeot 208 T16.
Breen and co-driver Scott Martin won the 2015 Circuit of Ireland Rally which had been a long-time ambition of Craig’s especially as this would be the 20th anniversary of his Rally Idol’s Tarmac Championship Win, that being Frank Meagher.
WRC
He did a part-time campaign with the Citroën Total World Rally Team in 2016, achieving his maiden Special Stage win and an emotional first podium finish with third place at the 2016 Rally Finland. He improved the result in 2018 by finishing second at the 2018 Rally Sweden.
He would get the full time drive with M-Sport in 2022. Despite picking up a podium at the opening event at Monaco, Breen struggle throughout the rest of the year. He finished 7th in the standings.
Irish Tarmac Championship
In 2019 he was part of the Hyundai programme and would also compete not only in the WRC but also in the Irish Tarmac Championship. Competing with the likes of Josh & Sam Moffett, Callum Devine etc, Breen & Nagle would take the title picking up five victories during that year.
Return to WRC
Breen had competed in more recent rally events locally and worldwide. Last year he competed in the Killarney Historic Rally in a Ford Sierra Cosworth.
it was revealed he would personally be sponsoring the Junior 1000 series for young drivers – offering vouchers and driver tuition to competitors.
The series comprises five gravel rallies in Ireland and is open to drivers aged between 14 and 18 driving sub-1,000cc cars with limited performance modifications.
Breen’s sponsorship includes a prize fund worth €1,250 in vouchers per event, ranging from performance-related awards to draws that will take place across the year, with both rookie and experienced competitors equally open to claiming a prize.
This year he returned back to Hyundai on a part time basis. Breen was undertaking a part-time WRC program with Hyundai, with a full season in Portugal behind the wheel of an i20 N Rally2 added to his schedule for extra seat-time.
13th April 2023
Breen died on 13 April 2023 at the age of 33 after a crash driving his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 rally car in a testing session for the 2023 Croatia Rally.
The front-left of his car collided with a pole on a road between Stari Golubovec and Lobor at 12.40 pm local time, fatally injuring Breen. Breen’s co-driver James Fulton was uninjured.
There’s no doubt Breen had an incredible talent with that need for speed. He’s arguably one of the most successful Irish Rally drivers in recent years and there’s no doubt he will be sadly missed in the Irish Rallying.
Why greatest people leave us so soon? Please God take him home to You. 🙏
RIP 🙏 Craig