M-Sport wants Breen to “throw caution to the wind”

There won’t be a lot of reading in the Rally Finland briefing document M-Sport Ford team principal Richard Millener prepares for lead driver Craig Breen.

It will be short, succinct, and very much to the point.

The long version will read: “It’s time to throw caution to the wind. You’re sixth in the standings, anything better than that is what we’re after.”

The résumé? ‘Crack on.’

Having led after the first stage, Breen was forced out of Rally Estonia when he slid wide and damaged his Ford Puma Rally1’s steering on a concrete pole that was lying in the undergrowth.

Millener was quick to deflect any criticism of his driver and found only words of encouragement ahead of Finland, a place where Breen has twice finished on the podium.

Asked if there was pressure building on Breen, Millener told DirtFish: “I would kind of look at it the other way and think the pressure’s been building in terms of him wanting to be focusing on getting a good championship position, good solid points at a rally. He’s dropped now to sixth in the championship and we’re slowly falling behind – not necessarily through any fault of his own.

“Personally, I would now be looking that we throw caution to the wind and just get on with it. Coming lower than sixth is only worse, so let’s just try and see where we can get to. Anything better we can do now is a bonus.”

DirtFish says…

Is it sensible to throw caution to the wind?

In all honesty, it probably is. The Puma is a car capable of winning, as Sébastien Loeb demonstrated in Monte Carlo at the top of the new generation. Nothing’s changed. Yes, Toyota and Hyundai have had a fiddle and found another donkey or two under the lid, but nobody’s taken a quantum leap; they don’t exist under current regulations.

Breen’s well capable of winning in Finland. No doubt in my mind.

And victory in Jyväskylä would be more timely than ever. Craig’s a driver who thrives on confidence and support. He’s shown time and again that he’s capable of coming out and delivering against the odds – look how he stepped into a Hyundai out of nowhere and delivered a score few would have predicted.

There’s an argument that Breen’s appetite has dimmed now his feet are beneath M-Sport’s top table, a table packed with mouth-watering opportunity and performance.

I don’t buy that sort of second-rate psychology. Nothing means more to Breen than his seat and nobody wants to put the Puma on top of the podium more than him.

So, let’s just stop for a second. Let’s cut through the building hysteria and take a look at the first seven rounds of his first ever full WRC campaign.

He’s been in the top four three times, scored two podiums, won stages and led a rally (admittedly only for one stage, but it’s still there in black and white). Sweden was a stupid mistake; Croatia a fairly poor performance behind the wheel and in terms of tire selection; Portugal was punctures, Safari was steering and Estonia bad luck.

Bad luck?

Yes.

I waded through miserably soggy, boggy bits of Estonia to find Breen’s car and I saw for my own eyes how close he was to missing a concrete block that was lying on its side. An inch either side and the car would have run harmlessly over it. Craig would have dropped 10 seconds, reversed out and carried on.

I’m not normally one for buying the hard luck line, but this time it’s a fact. Granted, he was the one leaving the road in the first place, but when this sport’s working against you, it works very much against you.

And vice-versa.

Friday morning’s Peipisääre opener, anybody? Kalle Rovanperä smacks a rock and gets away with it.

But if ever there was a place to throw caution to the wind, it would have to be Finland. The prospect of a worry-free Breen hurling the perfect Puma from Harju to Ruuhimäki is an enormously exciting one.