The World Rally Championship in Croatia starts on Thursday. Toyota’s team manager Jari-Matti Latvala says that the atmosphere in the service park has been quiet during the week.
Emma Hyuppa,
Riikka Smolander-Slotte
The atmosphere in the service park of the World Rally Championship in Croatia has been sad and quiet during the week, because the Irish driver Craig Breen died a week ago in a tragic accident during Hyundai’s tests.
Toyota team manager Jari-Matti Latvala says that the beloved colleague has been remembered in different ways in the last few days, even though the drivers were unable to participate in the fast-scheduled funeral in Ireland on Tuesday.
According to Latvala, the accident that led to Breen’s death has also been discussed a lot among the teams during the past week.
– The most important message is that what happened in the accident does not affect car safety. 33 kilometers per hour has been the speed in that situation, Latvala tells Urheilu.
33-year-old Breen’s car veered off the road in a bend to the right and crashed into a wooden fence with the left front corner ahead. Part of the wooden fence penetrated the car through the window. Despite the slow speed, the accident had shocking consequences.
– I wanted to emphasize to the drivers that Craig has had as much bad luck as a person can have and that it (the accident) should not be thought about too much. It’s just the way in life that you can slip on the ice, hit your head, and the spirit leaves you, says Latvala.
The World Rally Championship in Croatia starts on Thursday morning with a test special stage. Latvala expects that the rally crowd’s grief will ease a little when the rally gets started properly.
– Yes, you can see that the feeling is not the best possible. Joy and pleasure are missing at this stage. But all are hard professionals and they go to do their job, says Latvala.
Toyota made a respectful gesture
Breen’s death causes special arrangements for the Croatian rally. The teams decided, on Toyota’s initiative, that they can nominate only two drivers for the rally, who compete for manufacturers’ World Championship points. Normally, according to the rules, teams can nominate three drivers, and the scores of the two best are taken into account in the race between manufacturers.
Breen, who died last Thursday, was a Hyundai driver. Two drivers from Hyundai will participate in the World Rally Championship in Croatia, Thierry Neuville and Esapekka Lappi.
Toyota scores points in Croatia Sebastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanperäwhile by Elfyn Evans the name has been deleted from the list of drivers who drive over garage points.
According to Latvala, the teams wanted to respect Breen and keep the competition as fair as possible with the exceptional arrangement.
– There was a fear that Hyundai would not run this race. It must be remembered that Craig was a very passionate rally driver. He had a very strong interest in old racing cars. He would certainly have liked the race to be run. That is why this result was reached.
Hyundai has said it will honor Breen’s memory by changing the livery of its cars to match the Irish flag.