Craig Breen joins Hyundai in Finland

Thierry Neuville and Andreas Mikkelsen will have a new teammate at the next Rally from Finland (August 1-4). Hyundai Motorsport a en effet confirmé l’arrivée dans ses rangs pour le mythique rallye nordique de l’Irlandais Craig Breen, which will be co-driven by Paul Nagle, formerly on the right of Kris Meeke.

The experience and recent past of Breen on this round (3rd in 2016), resident of Citroën Racing until last year, played in favor of the native of Kilkenny, who will compete on the i20 WRC flanked by n°42, his old number in karting.

Breen will have the opportunity to discover the car after having molded his seat this Tuesday and will notably be at the start of the Estonian Rally (July 12-14), a non-championship round but partner of the Finnish round and where each team scoring championship points will be present.

“I am delighted to be able to join Hyundai Motorsport for Rally Finland and to return to a WRC, indicates Breen, who is playing his national championship this season in addition to a presence in rallycross. It was a long wait and having to watch everyone drive this year.

Finland is the rally I have competed in the most in the WRC, so I hope I can bring something to the team and I will have some time in the seat before the event. It will still be a challenge, but I am ready. »

“As the championship battle enters a critical phase and the competition is so tight between the brands, we have included Craig Breen in our line-up for Finland, underlines Andrea Adamo, boss of Hyundai Motorsport, who continues his policy of rotating his drivers to ensure maximum points in the championship.

He has shown his class at this event in the past and has a wealth of experience that will be valuable to us. We will make sure that he can prepare sufficiently with Rally Estonia. »

The choice of Hyundai, however, remains a surprise, knowing that the Korean brand has Sébastien in its ranks Loeb, winner three times, or even Dani Sordo, regular at the “1000 Lakes” and very recent winner in Sardinia. But the two drivers did not seem excited about competing in Finland. (See Ah n°2217).