Breen reveals
SWRC schedule

The inaugural FIA WRC Academy Cup winner will make the step in the same Ford Fiesta S2000 he used on RallyRACC-Rally de Espana last October. Gareth Roberts will continue to co-drive.

“I had envisaged moving to S2000 for 2012 [for] some time as this was always going to be my next step,” said the 21-year-old Irishman. “Winning with WRC Academy has given me more options but I still needed to take time and make the correct choice, not just looking short term but to stand back and take a wider, more long-term view of my career.”

Tom Gahan Motorsport will run Breen’s Fiesta with backing from Kel-Tech Engineering. Breen, who is starting his campaign on Rallye Monte-Carlo, will also contest the rounds in Sweden, Portugal, Finland, Great Britain, France and Spain.

“I’m delighted now to be able to officially announce my plans for next year,” said Breen. “Three days after claiming the WRC Academy title in November I was in Austria for the FIA Institute [Academy] trials and my schedule hasn’t stopped in the intervening time but in the background we’ve been working on putting a package together for next season.”

Breen’s rivals for SWRC title glory will include Pole Maciej Oleksowicz, a regular in the European Rally Championship last season in a Fiesta S2000, Production Car world champion Hayden Paddon and PROTON’s factory drivers, which include PG Andersson, Giandomenico Basso and Alister McRae.