I rarely post here and have no great story to share about Craig Breen but felt like sharing some thoughts all the same. (Apologies for the long post)

It’s been hard to find the words to describe Craig Breen’s loss over the last few days. In spite of being an avid Irish WRC fan I won’t be a hypocrite and claim that I saw him as a future WRC champion. But that wasn’t the point, what he undoubtedly was to me however and to many more was a fellow countryman living out our dreams at the highest level. He was Ireland’s most successful driver ever on the WRC stage. He was an inspiration, an Irish rally driver for us to support internationally and to be proud of.

Rallying is popular in Ireland and national rallies regularly have huge entry lists but Irish drivers rarely make much of an impression at European or WRC level. Growing up my rallying heroes were drivers like Sainz, Makinen, Gronholm, it barely even occurred to me as a young fan that an Irish driver could compete at that sort of level. Breen changed that.

Winning in 2011 and 2012 started the change that but his WRC career, factory drives, and multiple podiums really were an inspiration to Irish rally fans. It might be harder for fans from some more successful countries to fully understand that but when your country only has one driver to ever achieve this sort of success it really does change how you view rallying at the highest level. To us Irish rally fans he was living the dream and he became what all young drivers aspired to (and what older fans like me daydreamed of being)

What also stands out to me, was Breen’s love of the sport and his love of competing in local Irish events. I didn’t know him personally but often saw him at service or during Irish rallies and from what I saw as a fan and what I heard from other competitors it seemed like his success never went to his head and he never acted like the big star at a small rally.

Rallying and Irish rallying in particular is a much poorer place without him.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.