Craig Breen Passes Away in WRC Croatia Pretest

This morning Hyundai Motorsports delivered some very unfortunate news. WRC rally Championship driver Craig Breen passed away today in a pre testing accident in Croatia. Hyundai released the following statement via twitter:

The 33 year old driver was scheduled to race part time this season after a second place finish at WRC Sweden. His journey to WRC was a legacy of hard work and dedication having come up through the WRC Academy, Junior an dWRC2 ranks staring in 2011. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem expressed the FIA’s condolences by stating, “Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones and the Rally community at this difficult time.’ Not further comment from Hyundai will be made at this time. Our prayers and condolences go out to Craig Breen’s family, friends and fans during this unfortunate time.

WRC Mexico returns to the 2023 calendar after taking a 2 year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Spirits were high from the WRC fans as the Guanajuato Rally kicked off on Friday for what would be an event filled weekend filled with highs and lows for the competitors. In general the driver reception was very high. Round winner Sébastien Ogier driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing stated, “It’s always a special place to come and compete. The fans and the people really give this one a really nice atmosphere and Thursday night is always amazing.” This win marks his 7th in Mexico setting the record alongside 2023 co-driver Vincent Landais. Ogier and Landais secured the win after 23 stages finishing 27.5s seconds ahead of rival Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team driver Thierry Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe.

Ogier and Landais won 5 stages at the WRC Mexico round. Neuville and Wydaeghe also won 5 stages but lost time towards the end of the weekend. However, Ogier displayed superior tire management and minimize unnecessary risks in the mid stages to carve out a comfortable lead that the Toyota Gazoo front man was able to hold on to from stage 11 until the end of the round.

Lappi Crash

Stage 15 was cancelled due to an accident involving Esapekka Lappi. Lappi lost rear grip of his Hyundai, sending him into a spin into a telephone pole. The back half of the car was completely destroyed and eventually lead to a fire that was quickly contained. An even more painful realization for Lappi is that the crash occurred when he was leading the stage. Lappi said, “It was very very unfortunate. It is hard to swallow but on the other hand when you fight for the win you still need to push and maybe I was not pushing hard enough actually.” Other drivers also complained about a lack of grip Saturday as the stages progressed into the afternoon. Despite the stage 15 cancellation the rest of the field was able to push through without major incident.

M-Sort Ford driver Ott Tänak was not able to repeat his success from WRC Sweden after falling substantially behind after a turbo unit failure on Friday. Tänak was able to secure 4 stage wins to climb back to 9th to finish off the weekend. Next up is WRC Croatia, which is primarily an asphalt round that will take place starting April 20th 2023. Be sure to tune in to WRC+ to catch the next round here.

Round 3 of the World Rally Championship (WRC) Guanajuato Rally Mexico kicks off this weekend March 16th-19th 2023 after a 2 year sabbatical from the series. This will be the first gravel based round of the season. With high desert temperatures on the horizon, this round will be the ultimate test of man and car. The stages will take place in the mountains of the state of Guanajuato. The driver will have to navigated dusty, wind and sand dunes at 2700+meters above sea level which will have drastic impacts on power output for the cars.

There will be 23 stages that cover a route totaling to 971.32km traveled from start to finish. The hot and dusty terrain will be a huge switch in the conditions WRC drivers have experienced thus far. Coming from WRC Rally Sweden which is dominantly a snow driven event and WRC Rallye Monte Carlo which is geared more toward asphalt and unpredictable mountain weather; WRC Mexico will be the first testament to how the newest generation of cars handle in the gravel in 2023.

You can check out the World Rally Championship (WRC) Guanajuato Rally Mexico trailer here:

You can find more details regarding the event schedule here. For live video and timing as well as exclusive access to driver onboards and live map tracking be sure to check out WRC+, the official live stream and video channel of the FIA World Rally Championship.

First held in 1950, WRC Rally Sweden remains one of the most iconic races on the WRC calendar and the 2023 campaign was nothing short of epic. WRC Rally Sweden 2023 featured 18 rally stages in a weekend full of ups, downs, copious amounts of snow and some rivalries reignited. 6 teams walked away as stage winners this round with one team emerging as the overall round winner in statement making fashion.

Driver Ott Tänaka ended the a 385 day victory drought at M-Sport Ford and soared to the top of the table in the title race. Tänak had previously driven for M-Sport in 2011 and 2017 before spending a few stents with rival teams Toyota and Hyundai. “It obviously means a lot to me, to come into a new car and deliver to these guys [at M-Sport].” Tänak said. “It’s a big effort for them to fight against such big manufacturers. I’m sure they’re getting quite a bit of stress from me, but as long as it’s delivering then we are all winning. It’s great to be part of this team.”

In his second appearance for M-Sport in 2023 Tänak claimed a commanding victory against rival Craig Breen; Italian driver for Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team whom ended round two 18.7 seconds behind Tänak. In surprising fashion, M-Sport only won one stage out of the 18 for the weekend but were able to stay at the top of the table to secure a final P1 position.

In the Hyundai camp Thierry Neuville won five stages and Breen won four but due to an untimely mistake running wide in one instance and then crashing into the snow banks in another the call from team principal Cyril Abiteboul ended in failure to secure Neuville third position in the power stage. “It didn’t work, but I think we have done the right thing from the team perspective,” he said. Neuville who is a full season driver is a championship contender while Breen will only be participating in half the season. Thus the team was trying to maximize their position by placing team orders that would secure a higher finish for Neuville. However, a little bit of bad luck cost them. Despite the unforeseen error Hyundai walks away from Sweden with 9 stage wins and P2 and P3 finishes for the round bumping Neuville into P3 in the championship. These types of decisions are part of motorsports and things don’t always fall in your favor. Hyundai still stands by the decision and it will be interesting to see how the rest of the season unfolds. For more information on upcoming WRC races visit WRC.com

Check out the 2023 Season scheduled here: