World Rally Championship driver Craig Breen died Thursday at 33 years old following a crash during practice.
Tom Howard of Motorsport.com noted the crash happened during a team test on asphalt roads in Croatia. Hyundai Motorsport confirmed that co-driver James Fulton did not suffer any injuries in the crash.
"The WRC family is shocked and saddened to learn of Craig Breen's passing," the WRC said in a statement. "Our thoughts and condolences are with the family and friends of Craig at this incredibly sad time."
Breen, who was the son of Irish rally national champion Ray Breen, began in circuit racing before switching to rallying in 2009.
He was the 2011 WRC Academy champion and the 2012 WRC Super 2000 world rally champion before making it to the top tier of rallying in 2016. In all, he competed in 81 rallies and accumulated 30 stage wins.
Hyundai added Breen as a part-time driver from 2019 through 2021, and he eventually returned to the team in 2023.
He was off to an impressive start this year after finishing in second place at his first WRC start of the season at Rally Sweden in February.
For the 10th consecutive year, October saw a “Sebastien” crowned as king of the rally-driving scene, but it wasn’t the Sebastien Loeb who had dominated the sport since 2004, as everyone was expecting.
Instead, it was Sebastien Ogier who stopped his namesake from making it a decade of triumph, capitalising on the Frenchman having to pull out three weeks ago and claiming overall victory for himself.
That achievement was capped with another stage win at the Rally de Espana this weekend, where Ogier lived up to expectations and finished atop the podium for the eighth time this season.
| Position | Driver | Car Manufacturer | Time |
| 1 | Sebastien Ogier | Volkswagen | 3:33:21.2 |
| 2 | Jari-Matti Latvala | Volkswagen | +32.9 secs |
| 3 | Mikko Hirvonen | Citroen | +1:13 secs |
| 4 | Thierry Neuville | Qatar WRT | +1:39 secs |
| 5 | Evgeny Novikov | Qatar Motorsport | +2:01 secs |
| 6 | Mads Ostberg | Qatar Motorsport | +2:26 secs |
Winning by 32.9 seconds in his Polo R, Ogier’s triumph also means that Volkswagen Motorsport will add the manufacturers’ championship to their collection, ending Citroen’s five-year grip on the title.
As the Official World Rally Championship Twitter account suggests, the Frenchman’s win on the gravel and tarmac of Salou didn’t come easily and included a superb comeback along the way:
The Finnish pair of Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen finished second and third, respectively, with the latter giving his rivals a firm pat on the back in his post-race comments:
Colin McMaster took this image, capturing Ogier’s moment of Spanish triumph:
Although it holds little prospect for a competition whose top prize has already been awarded, drivers and co-drivers alike now look ahead to the final leg of their rally season, a British meeting in November.
Going into that 12th stage, Ogier holds a decisive 95-point lead over his closest opponent, Thierry Neuville, who could only muster a fourth-place finish on Sunday afternoon.
The Belgian was forced to relinquish any hopes of a world title a long time ago, and it’s really no wonder that Ogier has raced to victory in the fashion he has, with just four wins being shared among the rest of the field in total.
| Position | Driver | Car Manufacturer | Points |
| 1 | Sebastien Ogier | Volkswagen | 238 |
| 2 | Thierry Neuvelle | Qatar WRT | 143 |
| 3 | Jari-Matti Latvala | Volkswagen | 125 |
| 4 | Mikko Hirvonen | Citroen | 117 |
| 5 | Dani Sordo | Citroen | 111 |
The result is a decisive mark up for Ogier; his previous best WRC overall finish was the third place achieved with Citroen in 2011, when he racked up a respectable 196 points.
That tally is now blown out of the water, with the 29-year-old finishing off the podium just twice this year.
The Spanish result showed that, in addition to having a great mechanical team behind him and a co-driver to match, Ogier holds incredible driving skill and is fully deserving of his championship ahead of his British victory lap.
The World Rally Championship revs into the seaside tourist town of Salou, Spain for the penultimate race of the 2013 tour.
The honour of the final race of the season has been bestowed on Wales this year, after the Rally de Espana acted as the curtain closer to last year’s tour.
The world of rally driving crowned its first new champion in over nine years during the Rallye de France-Alsace at the beginning of the month. Sebastien Ogier took home the big prize with two races to spare, bringing an end to the dominance enjoyed by Sebastien Loeb, who had finished top of the pile every year since 2004.
| Position | Driver | Team |
| 1 | Sebasatien Ogier | Volkswagen Motorsport |
| 2 | Dani Sordo | Abu Dhabi Citroen Total World Rally Team |
| 3 | Jari-Matti Latvala | Volkswagen Motorsport |
Loeb’s supremacy on tour was evident at the Rally de Espana down the years. The French driver boasts eight consecutive victories in Salou, but after retiring three weeks ago, this year’s race is wide open.
The rally in the Iberian Peninsula is the only true mixed-surface round during the year, according to WRC, and is challenging for drivers, engineers and mechanics alike.
Drivers have to negotiate tarmac over the first two days of the competition before switching to gravel on Sunday. WRC call it the “Jekyll and Hyde style transformation” as teams have just 75 minutes to convert their cars for the change in surface.
Plenty can happen over 15 stages on 355 kilometres of road, but here’s a look at who we think will be popping champagne on the podium.
Top Drivers to Watch
Sebastien Ogier
Ogier has already sewn up the drivers’ championships but he will be eager to impress in Spain after bowing out of the race early in both 2011 and 2012.
It will be his first race as world champion and he is the only driver, besides Loeb, to have won on both gravel and asphalt this year—per WRC.
The 29-year-old, who was a teammate of Formula One’s Kimi Raikkonen in 2010, has won seven races this year in Sweden, Mexico, Portugal, Italy, Finland, Australia and in front of his home support in France.
Dani Sordo
Sordo will be absolutely gunning for top spot this weekend. The Spaniard has finished on the podium five times at his home race without ever winning.
The driver, who competes for the Abu Dhabi Citroen Total World Rally Team, finally got his hands on a maiden race win in Germany this year, and after finishing runner-up in the last race in France he arrives in Salou full of confidence.
Sordo was the Spanish National Rally Champion in 2005 and would love nothing more than to come good at home on the main tour.
Jari-Matti Latvala
Latvala, a teammate of Ogier at Volkswagen, currently sits third in the drivers' championship on 125 points and will relish the opportunity to win in Spain.
According to WRC, Latvala will race without the limitations of team orders this weekend after Ogier already sewed up the title in Spain. Team boss Jost Capito told the WRC website that they can each fight for the win.
“They can do whatever they want and show what they are capable of," Capito explained. "I love to see the competition.”
Volkswagen currently lead the constructors’ title race and need just six points to ensure they stay there when the season ends. If, or rather when, they seal top spot they will become the first manufacturer to win the title in their maiden year of racing.
The Finnish driver, who finished third in the overall standings last season, sits in third spot this year and will be hoping a good performance this weekend is enough to hold off the challenge of Sordo, who sits seven points behind him in fourth place.
The Finnish leg of the World Rally Championship takes place this Saturday as some of the world's best drivers get set for Round 8 of the 2013 competition.
Here's a quick look at Day 3 of the event—when the races reach their climax, the champagne sprays and the winners are crowned.
When: August, 3rd
Where: Jyvaskyla, Finland
Surface: Gravel
Most Recent Winner: Sebastien Loeb (2012)
Main Contenders
Sebastien Loeb is the title holder at this venue. But having claimed his ninth successive championship, he retired from full-time racing last year and won't be appearing this time around to defend his crown.
He's claimed two wins and a second-place finish in the three races he's attended this year, showing his undoubted class, but sadly won't be present to display his skills this weekend.
Sebastien Ogier currently leads the way in the championship with 154 points and six rounds left to race. The French driver has won four of the seven rounds so far this season and is currently clear by 64 points.
Behind Ogier in second place is Jari-Matti Latvala, who won this race in 2010. He will no doubt be hoping to capitalise on the fact that few non-Finnish riders have flourished on the tough Jyvaskyla circuit.
Only two drivers from other countries have taken the title over the past 20 years, so Latvala—who won two rounds ago in Greece—will be confident of closing the gap on his rival.
Finally, Mikko Hirvonen should not be discounted.
The Finn is currently back in fifth place in the championship, having struggled for consistency, but will hope to take advantage of his home conditions. He can also look back at his victory secured in 2009 for inspiration.
Predictions
Despite recurring Finnish success at this venue, Sebastien Loeb's three wins over the past five seasons show that other nationalities can succeed in Finland.
Given Ogier's form this season, Loeb's fellow Frenchman has to start as favourite to extend his lead and take home the spoils.
As the 2010 World Rally Championship gets underway, we finally get to see if Kimi Raikkonen can successfully make the switch from F1 to WRC.
It would be foolish to bet against him as he has a terrific advantage...
He’s Finnish.
They’re an odd race, the Finns. Not only are they fiendishly handsome with their blond hair and blue eyes, but they are intensely laid back and likeable. They have a dry sense of humour and conversations can take an eternity.
Still, don’t let the fact that they speak slowly fool you, these guys are speed demons.
The term Flying Finn may have come from track runners, but the motorsport boys have claimed it and made it their very own.
There is something about the Finns that makes them driver very fast; it’s a genetic thing.
Even the Finnish version of Mr. Plod realises that they are a nation of leadfoots—speeding fines in Finland are amazing. Jussi Salonoja, a sausage magnate, was fined 170,000 Euros for doing 80km/h in a 40 zone. Didn’t stop him though!
Finns are over-represented at the very highest levels of motor sport, particularly Formula One and World Rally Championship, where they have won more world champions per capita than any other nation on earth.
They burst on to the scene in the early 1980’s when Ari Vatanen won the WRC in 1981, following Markku Alen's championship win in the FIA Cup for Rally Drivers in 1978.
Since then Finns have had a mortgage on the WRC winning it 13 times in all.
Vatanen was followed by some of the greatest names in rallying: Hannu Mikkola, Timo Salonen, and Marcus Gronholm. Then there was the impeccable—if humourless—Tommi Makinen and the incomparable Juha Kankkunen who, between them, won eight WRC titles.
A year after Vatanen’s WRC success, countryman Keke Rosberg broke through to be the first Finn to claim the F1 world championship. It took a while, but Rosberg was eventually joined by Mikka Hakkinen, who was the last man to put McLaren on top of the F1 pile.
And then came Kimi Raikkonen.
Kimi knocked Captain Eyebrows (Fernando Alonso) and Renault off their championship perch—not bad for a guy who looks like he’s 11-years-old.
Now Kimi’s jumped ship and left the mantle to Heiki Kovaleinen.
Whether it is dodging the 10 squillion trees (a figure that may or may not be accurate, but there is a lot) or staying out of the 188,000 lakes (187,888 according to Wikipedia—which is as reliable as the previous figure) after drinking Koskenkorva that makes the Finns such good drivers is unclear.
Whatever it is, they’re doing something right.
Has Kimi got what it takes to take out this year’s WRC?
Of course he has, it’s in his blood.
Two weeks. 9,000 kilometres. Nearly 400 started. Fewer than 200 finished.
Sometimes numbers are really all you need to sum up an event.
For the second year running the Dakar Rally, rather confusingly, found itself racing across South America. From the Argentinean capital of Buenos Aires to the Pacific coast of Chile and back again in a variety of cars, trucks, bikes, and quads.
The racing took place over 4,000 km of special stages, taking in fast gravel roads, the towering sand dunes of the Atacama desert, a dry salt bed, and a track at 3,000 meters above sea level through the Andes. It took even the fastest finisher nearly 48 cumulative hours.
Of course, with the equivalent of 24 F1 races, 12 NASCAR races, and two Le Mans 24 Hours, there were many stories to take in. Some funny and some tragic as the leads of all four categories (well, maybe not the trucks) changed throughout the race. In many ways the stories of the winners are the most boring.
Here, class by class, is a recap of the 2010 Dakar Rally.
Cars
The battle for victory in the car class was always going to be a battle between the works diesels of Volkswagen (VW) and BMW, with Robby Gordon’s Hummer and the privately entered petrol-driven Mitsubishis fighting over scraps and hoping the big names slipped up.
And some did slip up.
Nani Roma won the race’s opening stage in Argentina in his BMW. However, he and his co-driver Michel Perin soon became the first major retirement. After rolling his car on a sharp bend on the second stage, losing 15 minutes, the Spaniard suffered a second, more major role during stage three. The second accident severely damaged the right-rear of the car, as well as injuring Roma, bringing an early end to their race.
On the same stage, the realistic title defence of Giniel de Villiers came to an end. The South African was forced to stop early on in the 182 km stage with problems for his five cylinder VW diesel engine. While many competitors fix their own problems, de Villiers was forced to wait for his team’s support truck to get him started again. The damage was a loss of almost three hours on the day, and the reigning champion reduced to a glorified spare tyre carrier for his more fortunate teammates.
That left Stephane Peterhansel, a multiple champion rescued from the 2009 Mitsubishi squad when the Japanese marque withdrew their factory support, at the head of the field, before he too fell by the wayside.
His downfall was to be his driveshaft, which failed on the fifth stage between Copiapo and Antofagasta.
While Peterhansel was able to get back in the race without waiting for his support truck he had already lost 50 minutes and the lead. However, the fix was only partial, the Frenchman having to complete most of the stage with his normally 4WD car languishing with only front wheel drive. The eventual two hour, fourteen minute loss putting an end to any ambitions he had of adding another victory to his collection.
So what of those who would take their places?
The Mitsubishis, all five of them, entered by JMB Stradale were fast but inconsistent.
They were frequently found in the top 10 fastest stage times on any day—enough to see them taking advantage of the misfortunes of the works drivers.
But they too suffered setbacks.
Orlando Terranova lost over three hours on the torturous stage three (you may gather from parts of this article that stage three was especially difficult), while Carlos Sousa, the team’s most experienced driver, lost 90 minutes on stage seven after having to improvise his braking system with a repair job that involved oil lines and a pair of pliers taped to the front suspension.
Sousa would eventually finish sixth, the best non BMW or VW, as Peterhansel, despite his set backs, was able to recover to fourth overall.
The only three cars that managed to complete the event without a major setback, were the top three, and all were Volkswagens.
Carlos Sainz took a richly deserved Dakar win, twelve months after seeing a near-certain victory ebb away as he rolled his car into a gorge. Consistency, rather than all out pace, was the key to Sainz’s win, illustrated by the fact he did not win a stage until the tenth day of racing, by which time he was already in the overall lead. Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah was close behind overall, finishing a paltry two minutes, ten seconds behind in the end, the final days being a duel between the VW drivers as any team orders were forgotten.
American Mark Miller rounded out the podium, once more claiming the unofficial, but much reported position of "Top American."
His only real rival for that title, Robby Gordon, struggled in 2010, a year after he and his Hummer buggy finished third overall.
For me, Gordon and the Hummer are part of the modern Dakar legend. He’s mad and the car is beautiful (no, I never thought I’d say that about a Hummer either). His flying jump over the ceremonial start ramp in Buenos Aires, the picture for this article, just about sums it up.
But he, and his 2WD car, were shown up badly this year.
The opening stages did not suit him, the NASCAR driver describing how the car just slid around the corners on the fast tracks, and when the rally hit the desert where the Hummer was meant to excel it let him down.
Punctures one day, problems with the automatic tyre inflation system (an allowance for running a 2WD car) another, alternator problems on another, just plain getting stuck in sand on many.
There was a lone stage win, but it wasn’t enough to stop Gordeon from finishing eighth overall.
Perhaps the best news were the rumours that 2011 will see a 4WD drive Hummer.
Car Category Top Ten
1. Carlos Sainz (VW) 47h10:00
2. Nasser Al-Attiyah (VW) +0h02:10
3. Mark Miller (VW) +0h32:51
4. Stephane Peterhansel (BMW) +2h17:21
5. Guerlain Chicherit (BMW) +4h02:49
6. Carlos Sousa (Mitsubishi) +4h31:45
7. Giniel De Villiers (VW) +5h10:19
8. Robby Gordon (Hummer) +6h02:24
9. Orlando Terranova (Mitsubishi) +6h04:47
10. Guilherme Spinelli (Mitsubishi) +6h13:41
Bikes
Let me start off a look at the bikes by saying, for me, they are the toughest people in all of motorsport.
Not only do they have to be absurdly fit to survive a very physical ride on rough terrain on heavy bikes, but they have to be expert navigators to find their way through the sparse desert stages.
Oh, and they have to be engineers as well, fixing their own bikes should they breakdown on stage. And all while having a sense of camaraderie that’s rarer than hen’s teeth in professional sport.
For a perfect example, let me take you under a tree in the middle of nowhere on stage three. There you would find Marc Coma stopped with a fuel system problem (vapour lock for the nerdy or knowledgeable). Rival David Casteu (who was fighting Coma in the overall standings at the time) stopped to see if he could help.
He couldn’t, but when Casteu tried to start again his Sherco bike refused, thanks to an electrical problem. Coma got a set of jump leads from his field repair kit and helped put his rival back in the race.
Coma would eventually rejoin after solving his problem in a wonderfully low tech manner.
Blowing into the fuel tank.
Unfortunately, hurtling across rough terrain on two wheels also makes you vulnerable to injury, some of which can sound quite gruesome, for example Casteu’s stage five retirement that apparently involved his calf muscle being pulled away from the bone.
However, the man of the race, and then sadly the retirement of the race, was Luca Manca.
An Italian privateer, Manca had riden in similar Rally Raid events with some success, but this was his first attempt at the Dakar. And it was an attempt that was having some success, a string of top-ten times on the second, third and fourth stage putting him fourth overall.
However, all that was to change on stage five. Manca was asked by Coma’s KTM team to help their rider on stage, and he did just that, handing over his rear tyre to Coma after the Spaniard suffered a puncture.
The sacrifice made Luca a hero, part of the 2010 Dakar story, but his chapter was to get longer and darker the following day.
Having completed the fifth stage 25th fastest after receiving assistance, in turn, from Coma’s teammate Henk Knuiman, Manca started stage six in the dust of the riders ahead of him and fell only a few kilometres into the day, suffering severe head injuries to the extent that organisers bypassed the normal trip to the campsite doctors to take him straight to hospital.
There, in a medically induced coma he was diagnosed with cerebral edema and transferred to a neurosurgery unit in the Chilean capital Santiago. After several days in a life- threatening condition Manca awoke from his coma, and is, by all reports at the start of a long road to recovery.
And by way or equality there has to be a woman of the bike race.
That has to be Christina Meier, for her part in the story of stage three.
Her bike broke down, but only two kilometres short of the end of the stage. Unable to fix it by herself Tina, helped by a local, rode a horse to the end of the stage, where she picked up her mechanic and returned to the stranded bike, still on the horse.
Helped by the mechanic’s instructions (under the rules he was not allowed to touch the machine) she made it to the end of the stage. She would go on to be one of the 88 bike finishers.
At the top of the overall standings it was all about two men, and one of them wasn’t actually at the top.
That was reigning champion Coma, who despite being predictably quick, was hit with several penalties. Twenty-two minutes for speeding through a village, followed by a six- hour slap on the wrist for what organisers deemed outside assistance after allegations that he was given a new rear wheel by a spectator on stage seven. The penalty dropped Coma to 24th and had him threatening to quit the rally in protest.
The allegations (coincidentally) were made by the man who benefitted most from them, Cyril Despres.
With Coma demoted, Despres’ only real challenger was removed from the equation, and he went on to take a third Dakar Rally win, with an overall lead of over an hour. Coma, meanwhile, having continued the race finished 15th overall—6h32 behind Despres—6h22 can be accounted for by penalties.
Bike Category Top Ten
1. Cyril Despres (KTM) 51h10:37
2. Pal Anders Ullevalseter (KTM) +1h02:52
3. Francisco Lopez Contardo (Aprilia) +1h09:48
4. Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) +1h19:33
5. David Fretigne (Yamaha) +1h55:56
6. Alain Duclos (KTM) 1h58:35
7. Jonah Street (KTM) +2h49:43
8. Jakub Przygonski (KTM) +3h15:59
9. Olivier Pain (Yamaha) +3h28:20
10. Juan Pedrero Garcia (KTM) +3h33:48
Trucks
In the truck class it really was all about one man this year. Vladimir Chagin.
The Russian had already won five titles with manufacturer Kamaz, using their military designed trucks, complete with 17 litre, 800 horsepower engine, and 2010 would become his sixth title, and the third overall win by a Red Bull sponsored team, with Despres and Sainz also carry the omnipotent energy drink’s logo.
But he would also take another two records in a dominating performance.
The nine stages, out of fourteen, he won (a record in itself) saw his career stage-win tally rise to 56. With that, he won one of the hidden battles of this year’s Dakar as he and Stephane Peterhansel fought for the overall record for stage victories. For several stages the two were in lock step, both taking the eighth for their 54th victory.
However, while Peterhansel had to battle in the more competitive car category, Chagin was able to take two more stage victories before the end of the race to take the outright record.
Even aside from Chagin, it was a Kamaz tour de force. Of the five stages Chagin didn’t win, his Kamaz teammate and 2009 winner, Firdaus Kabirov, took four. And the final stage went to the third Kamaz driver, Ilgizar Mardeev, giving Kamaz all 14 stage wins.
Kabirov would finish second overall, Mardeev fifth after mechanical problems and a five hour penalty.
The best non-Kamaz, Dutchman Marcel Van Vliet in a Ginaf was nine and a half hours slower than Kabirov.
Truck Category Top Ten
1. Vladimir Chagin (Kamaz) 55h04:47
2. Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz) +1h13:08
3. Marcel Van Vliet (Ginaf) +10h43:20
4. Martin Macik (Liaz) +12h21:21
5. Ilgizar Mardeev (Kamaz) +14h59:29
6. Wulfert Van Ginkel (Ginaf) +15h29:16
7. Teruhito Sugawara (Hino) +17h29:37
8. David Oliveras (Mercedes) +23h19:06
9. Jordi Junanteny (M.A.N.) +25h15:27
10. Bellina Claudio (Ginaf) +26h47:12
Quads
The quad class was a very South American affair, as Argentinean brother Marcos and Alejandro Patronelli finished first and second. But it was not always so clear cut as Marcos' two hour, twelve minute margin suggests.
That is largely down to the high attrition rate in the class, as only 14 of the 25 starters finished the rally.
Hans Deltrieu, who had won the second stage, became another victim of stage three where he crashed out of the race. Then 2009 winner Josef Machacek retired on stage four, but it was on stage five that the race swung in favour of Marcos when his brother lost nearly 59 minutes, dropping from eight minutes behind, opening an hour chasm behind Marcos, a gap that got even larger when Jorge Miguel Santamarina (another Argentine) retired on stage seven.
But even then it wasn’t straightforward.
Just like Coma, Marcos Patronelli was accused of receiving outside assistance, and was penalised three hours, putting him behind his brother by 30 minutes.
However it was to be short-lived after both brothers threatened to quit the rally. While the riders were on stage eight, it was reported that the official who had made the complaint had withdrawn it, Marcos being immediately cleared and his massive lead returned to him, and he would never let it go again.
Quad Category Top Ten
1. Marcos Patronelli (Yamaha) 64h1744
2. Alejandro Patronelli (Yamaha) +2h22:59
3. Juan Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha) +5h07:31
4. Christophe Declerck (Polaris) +5h46:56
5. Rafal Sonik (Yamaha) +5h50:24
6. Sebastian Halpern (Yamaha) +9h07:31
7. Oldrich Brazina (Polaris) +16h33:41
8. Brice Auert (Can-Am) +16h52:16
9. Bernando Graue (Can-Am) +17:37:20
10. Daniel Mazzucco (Can-Am) +25h18:39
Sadly, the 2010 Dakar was not without tragedy, with spectator Sonia Natalia Gallardo being killed after the car of German driver Mirco Schultis hit a group of spectators watching from outside the safe spectator areas designated by race organisers.
