Irish driver Craig Brain has died as a result of an accident while he was testing in preparation for the Rally Croatia, the fourth round of the World Rally Championship, which will be held from April 20 to 23, according to what his Hyundai team said Thursday.
The 33-year-old Brin, who comes from Waterford, finished second in Rally Sweden, which was the second round of the world championship and was held in February, knowing that this year he was running a partial program with the South Korean manufacturer.
He was also sixth overall with 19 points ahead of Rally Croatia.
“It is with great sadness that the Hyundai Motorsport team confirms that driver Greg Brain lost his life today in an accident during testing for the Rally Croatia,” the Hyundai team said in a brief statement.
The South Korean manufacturer added, “The (Irish) navigator, James Fulton, came out unscathed from this accident, which occurred in the afternoon,” stressing that “no further comment was made at this time.”
Brin’s record does not include winning the World Tour “WRC”, but only climbed to the podium 9 times between 2016 and 2023, finishing second six times and third three times.
The Irishman finished last year’s championship in seventh place in the overall drivers’ standings, and twice climbed to the podium at Rallye Monte Carlo (third) and Italy (second).
In 2021, he finished eighth in the overall standings, after only going through 5 rounds out of 12, during which he managed to climb to the podium three times.
Green became the first rally driver to die behind the wheel of a rally car since Portuguese Augusto Mendes, who died during the 1989 Portugal Rally.
Since then, 4 navigators have died during rallies: Frenchman Francis Mallusan in Monte Carlo (1990), New Zealander Rodger Frith in Australia (1993), British Michael Park in Wales Rally (2005) and German Jorg Bastok in Spain (2006).