European rally weekend: Victories for Craig Breen, Yoann Bonato

A week before World Rally Championship resumes in South America with Rally Argentina, some European countries hosted their championship rounds with wide-known drivers taking victories.

The Easter weekend is the traditional time for the Easter Stages Rally, the third round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. The victory went to former WRC regular Craig Breen, who competes this year in the Italian and Irish rally championship. Just a week after his victory at Rallye Sanremo in a Škoda Fabia R5, Breen triumphed in the Irish rally event in a Ford Fiesta R5. His navigator was Paul Nagle. It’s their third win in three Irish championship events in 2019.

The duo in the #1 Ford Fiesta R5 defeated the second-placed Henri Desi/Liam Moynihan (Škoda Fabia R5) by 18.2 seconds. After fifteen stages and 130 competitive kilometers, Jonathan Greer/Kirsty Riddick (Ford Fiesta R5) finished the rally in the third place.

Craig Breen in the #1 Ford Fiesta R5 at Easter Stages Rally

In France, the 71st Rallye Lyon – Charbonnieres Rhone was the second round of the French Tarmac Rally Championship. Yoann Bonato took the victory in the #3 Citroen C3 R5, helped by the navigator Benjamin Boulloud.

Yohan Rossel took the second place in another Citroen C3 R5, beating third-placed Quentin Gilbert (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5) by just 0.8 seconds.

Photos: Craig Breen Twitter, French Rally Championship,