Photo Credit: FIA ERC Last weekend, four time Polish Rally Champion Kajetan Kajetanowicz claimed the 2015 European Rally Championship title on the shortened Acropolis Rally of Greece with one round to spare. Kajeto defeated main rivals Craig Breen and Alexey Lukyanuk to the title at the wheel of his Ford Fiesta R5. From the off, the main championship battle looked set to be between Kajetanowicz and Peugeot Sport's Craig Breen, and so it played out. Ireland's Breen held the early season advantage, winning three consecutive rallies, but a mid season blip left him trailing Poland's Kajetanowicz until Kajetan's victory on the Acropolis (which finished early due to bad weather) mathematically ruled Breen and all the others out of contention. This will come as a major blow to Breen, who has been on the brink of the WRC for a number of years. Photo Credit: FIA ERC After an impressive season in the 2010 British Rally Championship behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta S2000, Breen switched to the WRC Academy (now Junior WRC) for 2011 driving a less powerful Fiesta R2. A sensational championship battle ensued between Breen and Estonian youngster Egon Kaur. Breen and Kaur eventually tied on championship points, but Breen took the championship due to a greater number of stage wins. A year later and he was back in a Fiesta S2000 in the SWRC (now WRC2) where he wrapped up that championship as well. It was an emotional year for Craig however, who was doing some rallies in the iRC (now ERC) alongside his SWRC campaign. On the famous Targa Florio rally, tragically his long standing co-driver Gareth Roberts lost his life in an accident. So to even keep going was an achievement for Breen. The logical step perhaps from the SWRC title would be promotion to the WRC (a career path Elfyn Evans took) but instead Breen's career went somewhat horizontal. He contested the 2013 ERC, now with Peugeot in a 207 S2000 in a season dominated by Jan Kopecky and Skoda. For 2014, he got a new car, the 205 T16 R5 and subsequently took his first international rally win on the Acropolis Rally. However once again he was beaten to the title by Skoda and Esapekka Lappi. 2015 looked set to be Craig Breen's year, as his nearest title challenger on paper was Kajetanowicz who had less ERC experience than Breen. And despite an opening round victory for Kajeto, things were looking very promising for Peugeot's Breen as he won the next three rallies in a row, including an emotional victory on his home rally, the Circuit of Ireland. Photo Credit: FIA ERC However, Breen did not feature on the podium for any of the next four rallies, with driver error and plain bad luck blighting his charge. Meanwhile, Kajetanowicz was collecting the podiums and scored a further victory in Cyprus. He won the Acropolis with Breen in second, and the title was his.
Craig Breen will be ruing an opportunity missed, as the European title would speak wonders on his CV. He is among a bunch of drivers on the cusp of WRC promotion, including Esapekka Lappi who has an ERC title, and needs something that will make WRC teams take notice of him. His Peugeot team mate from 2014 Kevin Abbring (who didn't finish as high in the championship) is now on the brink of a Hyundai drive, which may add to the hurt Breen is feeling. The bottom line is Breen is a top class driver, but if he wants to be among the world's elite, he really needed to win the 2015 ERC title as it would have been the boost required. Now if he wants to win the ERC he has to do it all over again, which is effectively wasting another year of progress. I feel like his chance is almost gone. The lacklustre 2013 ERC season may be the culprit, as after brilliant successive championship successes, his career began to stall. But of course hindsight is a funny thing. And after all, Toyota are joining the WRC in 2017, so 2016 will be more important than ever. 2016 European Rally Championship title must be the goal.
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ERCArticles covering the European Rally Championship Archives
April 2017
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