M-Sport Ford team leader Craig Breen has crashed, ending his pre-Monte Carlo Rally test early on Wednesday morning.
Both Breen and co-driver Paul Nagle got out of the car without assistance and are reported to be uninjured. The Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid ended the crash on its roof. Efforts to recover the car are already underway.
An eyewitness told DirtFish: “Craig was going very, very well this morning. He did a lot of runs very quickly. He was caught by a left turn, not a fast one, but there was a bridge. He touched the bridge a little bit and this sent the car to the right and off the road.
@Craig_Breen fine-tuning the @MSportLtd Puma for next week. pic.twitter.com/4ZAlicLvcN
— dirtfishrally (@DirtFishRally) January 12, 2022
“There was half a spin and then the car rolled down the ravine. It stopped on its roof. It would be around 10 or 15 meters from the road down to the car.”
Breen was the second of M-Sport’s four drivers to test, with Adrien Fourmaux having completed his running on Tuesday. Gus Greensmith was scheduled to be in the car on Thursday with the team intending to refettle the Puma in time for Sébastien Loeb – who’s currently competing on the Dakar Rally until Friday – on Sunday.
Breen is the third factory driver to crash pre-season, with Elfyn Evans (Toyota) and Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) already having put their cars off the road in the French Alps last year.
