Intro:

Craig Breen claimed his first victory in the FIA European Rally Championship.

The Irishman finished with an 8.4 second win over Bryan Bouffier of France in the Acropolis Rally, Greece.

Script:

Craig Breen carried a fifteen second lead over Bryan Bouffier of France and Poland's Kajetan Kajetanowicz into the conclusion of the Acropolis Rally in Loutraki, Greece.

After six asphalt stages on Saturday, seven gravel stages faced the field and Breen lost only a few tenths to his two rivals over the course of the morning's action.

Breen won SS7, while Bouffier took SS8 and Kajetanowicz was quickest on SS9, but the Irishman still had the advantage going into the final four.

Kajetanowicz's challenge gradually faded, but Bouffier kept up the pressure and despite spinning on the penultimate stage, set the fastest time on the final two runs.

It wasn't quite enough though. Bouffier clipped more than eight seconds off the leader's advantage, but Breen still had 8.1 seconds in hand to take his maiden FIA European Rally Championship win in Peugeot's new 208 T16.

It was the biggest triumph of his career so far, trumping the WRC Academy and WRC2 titles already in the trophy cabinet.

Bouffier had to settle for second place in his Citroen DS3, with Kajetanowicz third, 42.1 seconds off the pace in the end.

Esapekka Lappi was fourth for Skoda, over a minute and-a-half down, and the Finn also lost his premier position in the season standings.

Breen now leads the championship with 63 points after three of the eleven scheduled events on the calendar completed.