Breen bids to carry Monte form into Croatia

The M-Sport Ford driver started the season on a high with third place at Rallye Monte-Carlo before going off the road in the snowy forests around Umeå. The Irishman wants to bounce back at the first full asphalt round of the 2022 campaign.

“I can’t wait to get going again,” Breen told WRC.com. “It’s been a long break away from the championship since Sweden and I’m really keen to be back in the Puma.

“Our pre-event test for Croatia went very well, I have good confidence in the car. When you look at Monte this year, there wasn’t much snow and ice around – it was a cold Tarmac rally. The car worked well there and I think that gives us all good confidence going to Croatia.

“I want to use Croatia as a way to spring back up again. The objective is to score very good points there.”

Breen lies seventh in the standings, 30 points adrift of leader Kalle Rovanperä after picking up just a single point in Sweden from the Wolf Power Stage.

He doesn’t need reminding of last season’s Croatia Rally where he finished eighth in a Hyundai i20 at the WRC’s first visit to the country.

“That was a difficult one,” he said. “We had a puncture and it wasn’t the best. From the start, I felt we were on the back foot for a number of reasons. That was last year, it’s all different now.”

• Full coverage from the Croatia Rally will be available on WRC+ All Live here, including every stage broadcast as it happens as well as key interviews, features and expert analysis from the service park