William Creighton vows to take tragic pal Craig Breen’s positive outlook into Croatia Rally

Creighton returns to WRC2 action at the Zagreb-based competition, which gets under way on Friday with eight special stages followed by a further eight speed tests on Saturday and four more on Sunday.

Prior to last year’s rally, Breen — who was a friend of Creighton — died from the injuries he sustained in a testing accident.

Breen was, and continues to be, remembered for his happy-go-lucky approach to life at the sport’s top level, where he finished on the podium on nine occasions.

Prior to being handed his big break in the World Championship by Citroen Racing, he clinched both the Junior and Super 2000 World titles.

“It is hard to believe it is a year on since we lost Craig,” said Creighton.

“We are always motivated to do the best that we can — I think winning the Junior World Rally Championship last year brought a lot of joy to those people back home who were supporting us, particularly during such a gloomy period.

“Having said that, I don’t think it made it any easier for Craig’s family, friends and those who knew him best.

“This week is going to bring back a lot of emotions and memories and it is going to be a difficult time, but if we can channel this emotion in a positive way, if we can adopt a positive mindset like Craig would, and just enjoy our rallying; I really think that is the best approach we can take at Croatia Rally.”

Creighton and Regan start the second of their seven World Rally WRC2 appearances this season in high spirits following back-to-back podiums on national Tarmac in their M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2 car.

Third overall at the West Cork Rally was followed up by second place on the North West Stages in England, the opening fixture of the six-round Probite British Rally Championship.

“West Cork and the North West Stages have definitely helped our confidence. It is nice to do so much away from home in the World Rally Championship but to then come back home and challenge on a more national level is a lot of fun and it shows the level those championships are at,” said Creighton.

“They have helped me to improve and work on my pace notes, my driving, and the set-up of the Fiesta.

“We’re trying to improve in small areas and hopefully it will keep us moving forward but we must be realistic going back to WRC2.

“Podiums are what we have been able to achieve closer to home but that is not where we are at in our WRC2 journey relative to all the other guys who are competing there.”