Anglade and Breen to renew battle at FST International Shootout
After their thrilling battle for this season’s Fiesta SportTrophy International (FSTi) came down the wire at the Rally of Great Britain last month, Craig Breen and Patrick Anglade are set to come face to face again at the FST International Shootout in December.

Germany’s Anglade, the FSTi runner up, has been awarded a wildcard entry into the competition which takes place at M-Sport’s Cumbrian base. He will face Breen who qualifies by virtue of his championship victory.

The 21-year-old from Losheim am See, was locked in a tight battle throughout the six rounds of this season’s FSTi with eventual winner Breen, only losing out in the final round of the championship at Rally GB in October.

Anglade actually took more overall victories throughout the season and a higher cumulated points total than any other FSTi competitor with three overall wins. At Rally d’Italia Sardegna he beat his nearest rival by over a minute in only his second ever rally on gravel. Rally Poland saw him match the record for the best overall finish by a GpN Fiesta ST in a WRC event taking 24th place overall. And at the Rally of Great Britain he showed good pace against the Fiesta R2s in his Fiesta ST to take another victory.

19-year-old Irishman Breen’s victories at the Vodafone Rally de Portugal and Neste Oil Rally Finland, coupled with his outstanding number of stage victory bonus points gave him the championship title. He also had his share of problems over the season, suffering an electrical problem in Spain which left him trailing Anglade going into the thrilling final round.

It was one of four titles that Breen has won so far this season along with the Kick Energy FST UK, FST Ireland and the Irish National Junior Rally Championship titles. He was also the proud recipient of the prestigious Billy Coleman Award for the best young rally driver of the year in Ireland.

Breen notched up a total of 41 stage victories in four FSTi appearances this season compared to Anglade’s 16 over the course of six rallies. With the FSTi scoring system allowing all drivers to drop their lowest two scores from the season, it was Breen who edged the win by 14 points.

Anglade and Breen will be joined by 16 other competitors from the regional Fiesta SportTrophy championships in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Abu Dhabi and New Zealand.

Interestingly, all of the previous winners of the Shootout have been wildcard entries with Matthias Boon (BEL) taking the title in 2008, Adam Gould (UK) in 2007 and Victor Henriksson (SWE) in 2006, giving Anglade an extra incentive to continue that record.

The competitors will face a series of physical and psychological tests as well as an assessment of their media skills before embarking on the final driving challenge in the Fiesta ST. The competitors will then be whittled down to the final five top candidates who will be interviewed by M-Sport Managing Director Malcolm Wilson OBE.

The prize on offer to the winner of the Shootout is a 12-month employment contract with M-Sport, an apartment at the Dovenby Hall HQ and the provision of a road car. The winner will have the chance to experience working in a number of different areas of the company, travelling to the European WRC events with the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, attending press functions and driving at PR events.

Fiesta SportTrophy International champion Craig Breen said:
“I’m really looking forward to the FST International Shootout. It’s been a while since I’ve been I’ve been in the Fiesta ST so I may will have to readjust my driving style after rallying in the Fiesta R2 for the last couple of months. I’m really excited about competing against Patrick again in the same car, but I desperately want this prize and it was actually my main aim to win the Shootout at the beginning of the season. I’ve been working really hard on my fitness, so hopefully it will pay off.”

Fiesta SportTrophy International runner-up Patrick Anglade said:
“I still can’t believe that I achieved so much in my first year in FSTi. I am happy that M-Sport invited me to the Shootout and I’m actually very proud because it shows that they appreciated my performance throughout the whole season. Now I’m looking forward to meeting all the other drivers and I will do my best to prove that I was the right choice for the wildcard nomination. I will be up against the best Fiesta drivers in the world and I will do my best to be able to compete with them on their high level.”

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