Peugeot Rally Academy driver Craig Breen made his third trip to the scenic FIA ERC SataRallye Azores leading the FIA European Rally Championship and determined to stretch his narrow three point advantage by taking his third ERC round win in a row.

Known for its sandy gravel roads that carve their way around the volcanicisland of São Miguelthe rally rates amongst the favourites for many of the driversand though clearly enjoyable it is one of the most challenging events of the championship as drivers can often experience multiple seasons in one stage.

Thursday morning started with a qualifying stage where Craig and his co-driver Scott Martin were setting the pace from the start when they posted fastest time in their Peugeot 208T16. This allowed them to be the first crew to pick their road order position for leg one that started with three stages that evening. On loose surface events it is preferred to run lower down the order and so Craig chose to run fifteenth, the lowest option available to him.

For the opening stage on Friday morning Craig and his main rival KajetanKajetanowicz gave spectators a preview of what was in store, separated by only 0.1 seconds in Craig’s favour through the 6.9km stage and after extending his lead a little more over the next one the Peugeot Rally Academy driver was determined to create a much bigger gap to the chasing pack. A spin put paid to that intention and as the cars reached the midday service. Craig found himself in second place trailing Kajetanowicz by 6.7 seconds.

Following some minor set- up changes to the 208T16 Craig topped the times on the remainder of the day’s stages to retake the lead by 2.3 seconds overnight.

Saturday proved to be a thrilling spectacle for rally fans as they watched the battle unfold between the Pole and the Irishman. Kajetanowicz snatched the rally lead by half a second on the opening stage and it was vice versa on the penultimate stage before service and the Peugeot Rally Academy crew took full advantage and reaching the midday point back in the lead with an 11.9 second cushion.

Breen was going to have to dig deep to have any hope of extending his lead and an amazing display of his driving talent not only extended his lead but saw him take his third European Rally Championship win of the season by over a minute.

At the finish Craig said “I came to the Azores with one objective, and that was to win the rally. I am so happy with the reliability of the 208T16.  I’m on top of the world at the moment.” 

Craig has now pulled ahead in the 2015 FIA European Rally Championship standings on 117 points, with Kajetanowicz on 103 points.