Breen twice buried his Ford Puma Rally1 into the snow in the second stage. The second error forced him out of the opening day, but he was back to land a single point from the Wolf Power Stage on Sunday.
That result came in direct contrast to his team debut at Rallye Monte-Carlo, where he finished third behind winning team-mate Sébastien Loeb and Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Sébastien Ogier.
“It was a tough rally,” said Breen. “It was fairly well over on Friday in terms of a result, but we have learned a lot about the car through the rest of the event.”
Asked about the pressure of leading the team, Breen said: “I’ve never really given that much thought to be honest. The most pressure for me was the Thursday before Monte. There was so much anticipation for that rally.
“I don’t think [leading the team] was making more pressure on this rally. Like I said, it was just a very small mistake and on this rally, if you’re first on the road, you pay a huge price for it.”
Breen added that he was now looking forward to next month’s Croatia Rally (21 - 24 April).
“We’re quite lucky that we had a fairly dry Monte,” he said. “Going back to the Tarmac again, there’s a lot that I’m interested to try for that rally. There are lots of positives to take looking forward.”
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