The unfortunate news was confirmed by the driver’s team, Hyundai, through a statement in which it added that the co-driver was not affected.
There is commotion in the world of motorsports due to the fact that the news was confirmed that Craig Breen, 33, has died following crashing during practice in Croatia.
This was announced by his team, Hyundai Motorsport, it’s a statement:
“Hyundai Motorsport is deeply saddened to confirm that pilot Craig Breen lost his life today following an accident during the test prior to the Croatian Rally,” the statement explained.
And he added: “The co-pilot James Fulton was uninjured in the incident that occurred just following noon local time,” and went on to say that “Hyundai Motorsport sends its deepest condolences to Craig’s family, friends and many fans.”
the Irish was preparing for his second outing of the World Rally Championship season as Hyundai’s third driver following joining for the second time. Apparently at one point he lost control of the car and it overturned later.
The athlete had finished second at the Swedish Rally in February, in what was his first participation of the season. The result equaled the best result of his career in this competition having achieved second places in Sweden 2018, in Estonia 2020 and 2021, in Belgium 2021 and Sardinia 2022.
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem also addressed the situation, writing on his social media: “On behalf of the FIA, I extend my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Craig Breen then his death during an accident in a private test in Croatia. Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones and the Rally community at this difficult time.”
Who was Craig Breen?
Breen, the son of rally driver Ray Breen, began his career on circuits, but in 2009 he decided to go to the world of Rally.
After competing in the British Rally Championship and the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship in 2010, he moved to the WRC the following season, where he competed in the WRC Academy, becoming the inaugural winner of the Academy Cup.
Finally, Breen reached the top flight in 2016 as a part-time Citroën DS3 driver and got his first podium finish in Finland. He would later move to Hyundai in 2019 and, following parting ways in 2021, he returned this year to continue adding wins.
Breen claimed 30 stage wins in the WRC and a total of eight podiums in 81 rallies.
Craig Breen’s latest video
The Irish driver was happy to participate in the stop in Croatia, as he published on his social networks just three days ago.
In fact, his last post on Twitter was celebrating the circuit of Ireland that until a few days ago it had been inaugurated and it was, to a great extent, thanks to the work of the pilot.