Craig Breen says he can take a lot from his performance during the Rallye Monte Carlo after he and co-driver Paul Nagle took a podium finish on their first appearance with the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team.
The 2022 season marks the first full season of Breen and Nagle’s career in the World Rally Championship, and they started it in a positive manner by consistently putting the debuting Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 car into the top three.
With team-mates Sébastien Loeb and Isabelle Galmiche taking the rally victory it was a good weekend for M-Sport in Monaco, and Breen says he can take a lot of positives away from the principality as he prepares for Rally Sweden, which takes place at the end of February.
“Obviously really happy with how the weekend went, perhaps not the strongest of weekends pace-wise, but we really settled into the car with every stage,” said Breen. “Ultimately today we definitely found our feet, our pace was really good, and we managed to bring home a podium result.
“It’s great for the team, great to get two cars on the podium, and looking forward to Sweden now.”
“I am really happy to see the progress we made” – Kalle Rovanperä
Breen denied Kalle Rovanperä and his co-driver Jonne Halttunen a podium in Monaco, with the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team driver ending just over thirty-six seconds back in fourth.
Rovanperä was pleased with the progress he made during the event, although it took some time for him to find his feet as he adapted to the new car and to the conditions in Monte Carlo.
“I am really happy to see the progress we made during the rally,” said Rovanperä. “I didn’t really know what was happening at the beginning but we believed in ourselves, pushed hard and found a good pace in the car.
“We did everything we could and finally got the setup much better and I could start to learn the car myself. I have to say big thanks to my engineer for pushing with me and doing big changes to the car. So it was a really positive weekend in the end and we could do a good run in the Power Stage also.
“It’s important to get all the points we can so it’s nice to be in this position, even if it means we will be cleaning the road in Sweden. That’s going to be a bit tricky but we will do our best to be ready for that.”
Kalle Rovanperä ended the Rallye Monte Carlo in fourth – Credit: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT