IRELAND’S CRAIG BREEN has opened his World Rally Championship campaign with a fifth place finish at the Monte Carlo Rally.

The Citroen Total Abu Dhabi driver and co-driver Scott Martin, moved up to fourth place at the end of day three, following 13 stages of the WRC Rallye Monte Carlo, and improved on that placing on the final day of the rally.

Despite driving an older car, the pair performed well against the new 2017 spec WRC cars in icy conditions.

Breen, the son of former Irish champion Ray, expressed his delight at his overall finish on social media, and says he is looking forward to the next World Rally Championship event in Sweden next month.

“That was unbelievable. So slippery I could barely get stopped at the stop line, horrific conditions. It’s been quite a good weekend. We’ve done some really good speed when the conditions were tricky. Bring on Sweden!”

The competition was struck by tragedy earlier this week, when a spectator died after a car left the road during the first stage.

Hyundai driver Hayden Paddon lost control of the car due to the treacherous conditions and slid into the roadside embankment where the spectator was injured.

Neither Paddon nor his co-driver were injured, but the pair decided to withdraw from the stage.

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