The sky above Lobor today is clear, the asphalt is dry and the fence on the outside of that curve, that damned curve, has been repositioned where it was until just before 12pm a year ago, before being knocked down by Hyundai i20 N Rally 1 carrying out a pre-event test ahead of the Croatia Rally.
One of the posts from that fence went through the driver's side window of the i20 and ended Craig Breen's life. 12 months later that place has become a pilgrimage destination for many fans and enthusiasts of rallying, WRC and Craig Breen.
Craig Breen memorial
Photo credit: Croatia Rally
One week before the Croatia Rally, the fourth round of the 2024 World Rally Championship, and one year after Breen's death, the organizers of the fourth event of the World Championship and the promoters of the WRC have inaugurated a small memorial precisely at the point that cost Craig his life, that is on the outside of the right-hand curve that could have seemed anything less than deadly.
The pain is still present in everyone. In the Hyundai Motorsport team, in rival teams, between drivers and co-drivers, but also between professionals and enthusiasts. Many, in the last 12 months, have taken the time to go to the site of the accident to leave a memory, a photo, a flower, a letter to remember Craig.
Craig Breen Memorial
Photo credit: Croatia Rally
The memorial built on the outside of the curve, Breen's last meter, will remain to collect all these memories. “In loving memory of Craig Breen”, says the small plaque, also reporting the date of his birth and death. A black plaque, the same color as the small altar, for a mourning that is still difficult to wash away, clinging to the heart with nails despite the inexorable passage of time.
Next to the memorial, the Irish flag, green, white and orange flowers – those of the Irish flag – and a black sign “In memorial Craig Breen” which accompanies one of Craig's most famous photos, the one taken shortly after a great performance at the Rally Sweden in which he took a great second place, the last podium in the WRC, the last joy in the World Championship, before that unforgettable and painful April 13th.
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