Irish rally driver Craig Breen (Hyundai) died in an accident during reconnaissance before the next round of the WRC world championship in Croatia (April 20 to 23), his team said in a statement on Thursday.
The 33-year-old Waterford native, who was only due to contest part of the WRC events this season, took second place in Rally Sweden, the second race of the year, in February.
He was in sixth place in the WRC world championship before Rally Croatia, the fourth race (out of 13) of the season.
“It is with deep sadness that Hyundai Motorsport confirms that driver Craig Breen lost his life today in an accident during reconnaissance for Rally Croatia,” the South Korean team wrote in a statement. brief statement. “Co-driver James Fulton emerged unscathed from this accident which occurred just after noon”, specifies the manufacturer “who will not make any further comment for the moment”.
Craig Breen had never before won a victory in the WRC, contenting himself with nine podiums between 2016 and 2023, with six second and three third places. The Irishman finished seventh in the WRC world championship in 2022 after notably winning two podiums, in Monte-Carlo (3rd) and in Italy (2nd). In 2021, he had finished the season in eighth place in the world having only competed in five of the twelve events, with three podiums at stake.
The last WRC driver to die at the wheel of his car was Portugal’s Augusto Mendes on Rally Portugal in 1989.
Since then, four co-drivers have been killed in the race, the Frenchman Francis Malaussene in Monte-Carlo (1990), the New Zealander Rodger Freeth in Australia (1993), the Briton Michael Park in Wales (2005) and the German Jörg Bastuck in Spain (2006).