European rally weekend: Victories for Latvala, Breen, Solberg

While waiting for the next WRC round in Sweden (February 14-17), we were watching many national rally events that took place during a weekend all over Europe. Some of the world’s top drivers participated in those rallies and added victories to their CVs.

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s WRC driver Jari-Matti Latvala, who will have a record-breaking 197th WRC start at next weekend’s Rally Sweden, was driving his own Toyota Celica GT-4 ST165  at Peurunkaralli in Finland, sharing the #68 car with navigator Asko Sairanen. The rally is a part of the Finnish Historic Rally Trophy and Latvala took a dominant win.

Craig Breen at Galway Rally

The Irishman Craig Breen, another big name from international rallying who is currently without WRC arrangement, participated in the 42nd Galway International Rally, the opening round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.

Driving the #1 Ford Fiesta R5 over nine stages, sharing a car with Paul Nagle, Breen took a victory with a 14.4sec advantage over Alastair Fisher in another Ford Fiesta R5. Josh Moffett, also in a Fiesta, finished third.

Oliver Solberg at Rally Sarma

Oliver Solberg, the 17-year-old son of world rally champion Petter Solberg, scored his second consecutive win in the Latvian and Estonian championships.

Driving the #2 Volkswagen Polo GTI R5, alongside Aaron Johnston as his navigator, he won Rally Sarma in Latvia. After eight stages,he defeated Estonian driver Georg Gross (Ford Fiesta WRC) and Russian Nikolay Gryazin (Škoda Fabia R5).

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