Peugeot Rally Academy driver Craig Breen had a great weekend in Latvia as he took the top step in the FIA European Rally round in Latvia. His win over the weekend now places him in second place in the European Rally Championship.

Breen’s pre-event practice was very positive for him and his co-driver Scott Martin which meant they were brimming with confidence for the short qualifying stage. The pair posted the second fastest time, just five seconds off Alexey Lukyanuk. Craig’s 208T16 proved reliable and it allowed him to carve out a twenty-one second advantage at the mid-day service. After the next stage, the 40km Kiuldiga test Breen and Scott lengthened their advantage to more than twenty-two seconds. At this stage the championship leader Kajetan Kajetanowicz slipped off the road and was forced to retire from the race.

On Sunday the Peugeot crew knew that they would have to keep their cool and Craig managed the last three stages without incident and they won by over one minute and forty seconds.

This win places Breen in second position in the ERC and he will be battling it out again over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend in Belfast for the ERC Circuit of Ireland Rally.

In other motorsport news, Donagh Kelly from Donegal and his co-driver, Kevin Flanagan from Derry, won Colm Quinn BMW Galway International Rally in Gort this weekend. This puts their Ford Focus WRC into an early lead in the Clonakilty Blackpudding Irish Tarmac Rally Championship for 2015. 39.2 seconds behind them was Eugene Donnelly and Paul Kiely in their MINI WRC, they followed Sam Moffett and Karl Atkinson in the Fiesta WRC by 0.7 seconds.