As soon as he crossed the flying finish, Scott Martin dropped his head into his hands.
Clunking the Yaris down a couple of gears, Elfyn Evans’ hand reached over to Scott’s knee.
He knew what his right-hand man was going through.
Croatia Rally wasn’t really a round of the World Rally Championship. It was a celebration of Craig Breen’s life – and it’s clear how much he meant to everybody.
Particularly the ones who used to battle for tenths of a second against him on the stages.
“This guy had rally in his blood,” said Sébastien Ogier.
“It was just a joy to watch him doing this because there was so much light in his eyes when he was driving. And yeah, he was a good ambassador for our sport because I think people could see that it was a pure passion.
“But yeah, life was much too short for him unfortunately, really unfair. Like I said, I never had a chance to be team-mates with him. I couldn’t really share many close moments to him, but for sure we will never forget him.”
Ott Tänak was one of several across the service park who did work with Breen.
“I would say he was opposite to me,” Tänak said.
“He was a guy who was always enjoying, always having fun, always seeing positive side. And sharing the car with him, being in the same team, yeah sometimes, like I’ve said, I used to be a bit jealous.
“You come back to service struggling with the car and you’re not having too much fun and let’s say the mood is not so good.
“But then other guys coming back, he’s still having fun and he’s seeing positives and he already wants to go back out.
“So that’s what he was.”
You can watch more tributes to Craig from across the service park in our latest video here.
