There was something rather fitting about the result of last weekend’s Croatia Rally: an Irishman’s name at the top of it.
Croatia has remained a difficult place for World Rally Championship personnel to revisit since the tragedy where Craig Breen lost his life in a testing accident, three years ago today.
Every year since, the Hyundai team he was driving for has sported a special tribute livery for him in Croatia, while it permanently carries the words ‘For Craig’ on the rear of the car.
Hyundai, unfortunately, has never won in Croatia, but Aaron Johnston’s victory co-driving for Takamoto Katsuta was symbolic as it gave the Irish community something to smile about in a place that’s hurt it so much.
“Yeah, it’s a country that is very close to everyone in the Irish rallying community with Craig’s passing here and the anniversary tomorrow,” Johnston told DirtFish on Sunday.
“So, OK, big respect for Hyundai running a special livery for Craig this weekend. And of course, he is always in our memory. But to have an Irishman again win in Croatia, I think it’s something special.
“And at least for me, every time you’re in the car, you’re thinking about Craig. It’s just that stronger feeling this weekend in Croatia.”
Johnston’s win was something of a surprise – he and Katsuta approached the final stop control thinking they’d finished second, unaware of Thierry Neuville’s incident on the stage.
“I think of course it has been a challenging rally, there has been a lot of drama but we were in the fight for victory up until our puncture yesterday,” Johnston explained. “So once we got that and dropped a minute and 20 or whatever it was it put us out [of contention], but anything can happen in rally as we’ve seen today and we’ve been in that situation before and it’s went in our favor this time.
“Of course it’s not the way you want to do it and I do feel sympathetic for Thierry, Martijn [Wydaeghe] and of course Hyundai so yeah it’s just one of those things, that’s rally, but we didn’t even know.
“When we went on the radio to tell Kaj [Lindström, Toyota sporting director] that we were clear of the stage that Thierry had an issue, so it was all a bit of a shock at the stop control.
“It’s pretty surreal, to be honest,” he added. “You know Kenya is always one of our strong events and so was Sweden and we were fighting obviously for the win on both of them and clinched it for the first time in Kenya.
“But coming here, like every rally we go to, the target is clear: it’s to be at least in the fight for the podium. But to win this weekend I think is more than we could have expected, and to do two events on the bounce, two victories, I think it’s incredible what Taka and myself have achieved now on these two rallies.
“And we’re looking forward again to Canaries and Portugal and then of course the big one in Japan. So the next three events should suit us also, so let’s see what we can do.”
