News

News
Wexford Motor Club successfully launched
their new Wexford Motor Club Youth
Academy on February 20th, an exciting new
initiative to nurture and encourage more
local young people into motorsport.
The club recognises that it can be intimidating
and challenging for young people who do
not have a family background in motorsport
to get involved in the sport and the aim of
the Wexford Motor Club Youth Academy is
to reach out to the local Wexford community
and facilitate more young people to realise
their dreams of partaking in our exciting and
rewarding sport.
Club members have been instrumental
in bringing this scheme to fruition,
with Garry Bradley, Johnny Looby, John
McGrath, among others, working hard to
design a scheme that will be rewarding and
appropriate for young people. “This Youth
Academy has been very well-coordinated
and planned by Garry Bradley and his team,”
said Graham Scallan. “They have done a
massive amount of work and as a volunteer
WRC Sweden
organisation, it’s wonderful to see the
commitment and energy coming from our
members for such a worthwhile initiative.”
The Wexford Motor Club Youth Academy
is the first of its type to be launched in
Ireland. It will be open to children aged
between 8 and 16, and will consist of a
number of workshops taking place over 8
months between February and September
2016. These workshops are designed to
provide a safe and enjoyable introduction
to motorsport and prepare participants for
their first karting event. The course content
includes theory and practical aspects,
including kart testing. The course will
culminate in a competitive karting race held
over a weekend in September 2016.
The Wexford Motor Club Youth Academy
is supported by Motorsport Ireland with
the help of the CRG Kart Ireland Race
Team, and is part of a nationwide push to
make motorsport more accessible to local
communities and allow more people to
partake in our fantastic sport. Wexford
Motor Club has been working closely
with Art McCarrick, Sport Development
Officer, Motorsport Ireland, to produce
course content that will be beneficial to
any motorsport newcomers, and also leave
participants who wish to continue on their
race career in a good position to get a first
racing licence with Motorsport
Ireland.
These are exciting times for Wexford
Motor Club and the Youth Academy
is part of a wider development
plan including a relaunched Club
Championship and the inclusion of
a number of key guest speakers at
club meetings aimed at improving
member’s knowledge of the sport,
with safety being a continued priority.
Following a successful launch,
Wexford Motor Club are delighted to
say that all places on the academy are
now filled.
Contesting their first rally with the Abu
Dhabi Total World Rally Team, Craig
Breen and his co-driver Scott Martin
produced a solid performance on the
frozen roads of Rally Sweden.
Breen’s team mate Kris Meeke wasted
little time in getting among the leaders. As
Kris went quickest on the Svullyra, Craig
produced a scintillating performance
to set third fastest time. Craig made it
back to parc ferme at Karlstad in eighth
position, less than two seconds behind
his rival Henning Solberg saying “The
conditions were better than we had been
expecting, especially in the morning. The
afternoon loop was more complicated
with all this snow. It’s pretty incredible
to say that there was too much, when we
have been waiting for it to fall all week! I
won’t forget the feeling at the end of SS7
in a hurry! I couldn’t believe it when I was
told that I had just set the third fastest
time… It’s been a fantastic
opening day with the Abu
Dhabi Total WRT.
Overnight snowfall made
for good conditions on day
two of Rally Sweden and
after a highly consistent
performance on day one,
Craig continued to learn
about rallying at this level with a series
of top-ten times. Despite having to
cope with the rapid deterioration of his
studded tyres throughout the afternoon,
he managed to stay within two seconds
of the experienced Solberg before the
super special stage that evening. The gap
slipped to 3.6sec after the day’s final test,
when Craig was forced to put his spare
wheel back on – which had lost its studs
earlier in the day. With only one, solitary
stage left on Sunady, Breen took no risks,
sealing his eight spot on the leader board.
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Craig is assured of at least 4 more WRC
outings before the end of the year. “Poland
may be next for me but if anything
comes up in the meantime I will take
the opportunity with both hands. This
is the realisation of a dream for me and
I’ll so whatever it takes to hold on to this
opportunity. I was pleasantly surprised
with our pace in Sweden and I already
know there’s much more left to find as I
continue to learn the car.”