Breen reveals the real reason behind his return at Hyundai

Craig Breen is being confident that his return to Hyundai is a forward step to him considering the difficult year he had at M-Sport Ford and believes that he will be able to find his WRC form again.

The Irish driver left Hyundai Motorsport at the end of 2021 as M-Sport Ford offered him a two-year contract in which he would be the leading driver of the team and would participate in all rallies in 2022. However, things did not go well for him as he finished only two times in the podium positions and did many mistakes throughout the past season. In comparison with his results in 2022, Breen had four podiums when he had a part-time deal with Hyundai Motorsport from 2019 to 2021 and was fighting for the victory in some events such as in Ypres Rally Belgium two years ago. Since M-Sport Ford was looking for a more experienced driver for 2023, Breen announced that he will rejoin the Alzenau-based team for this year with a part-time programme as he will share the third car with Dani Sordo after Esapekka Lappi signing a full-season contract with them.

"It is a forward step to me, to be honest with you, regardless of the amount of rounds I will be doing", Breen said.

"Look, it is great to be back again. 

"It was a tough year last year. 

"It was definitely testing at times but I'm looking forward to a fresh start back at home at Hyundai.

"It is something fresh and I'm looking forward to getting the whole thing underway again. 

"I just want to get back on form again and get some good results. 

"It was difficult to be off the podium so many times last year, so I want to get back on form again.

"Absolutely the success we had, that was the main reason for rejoining Hyundai.

"We had a great couple of seasons there from 2019 to the end of 2021, so it was a no brainer when the opportunity came around. 

"I'm just glad we were able to make it work and I'm looking forward to getting started now.

"There was talk of a full-time drive initially but then obviously things changed, the great swings and roundabouts of the driver market, things changed towards the latter stages.

"I'm happy enough and I'm glad to be back at Hyundai again and I just want to get back to getting good results, and that is the most important thing for now.

"For sure, I need a little confidence boost as it has been a difficult year last year, so a couple of good results will be most welcome".

Source: Motorsport.com

Photo Credits: M-Sport