Croatia Rally: Winner Elfyn Evans pays tribute to Craig Breen, who died in pre-event testing
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Craig Breen: Elfyn Evans pays tribute to rallying accident victim
Elfyn Evans won the Croatia Rally and then paid tribute to Irish driver Craig Breen, who was killed during testing for the World Rally Championship event.
Toyota driver Evans finished 27 seconds ahead of Estonian Ott Tanak's Ford Puma for his first victory of the season.
The Welshman held an Irish flag on the podium during a minute's silence for Breen.
"It feels so insignificant now again really, that's the bottom line," said Evans.
"We've been working towards this for a long time, but it's surprising how little it means just at the moment.
"We're back to missing our friend after the real focus on the weekend and straight away after crossing the finish line that's all we can think about."
Breen, 33, was killed when his Hyundai was involved in an incident on Thursday, 13 April. His co-driver James Fulton was unharmed in the accident.
"We promised the [Breen] family we'd enjoy the weekend, we've done that. I'm sure they were following us, but we're definitely thinking of you," added Evans.
Scott Martin, Evans' current co-driver, sat alongside Breen for five seasons and navigated the Irish driver to Circuit of Ireland victories in 2014 and 2015.
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Welsh driver Evans inherited the lead in Croatia after Belgian Thierry Neuville hit a rock midway through Saturday's stage 11 and went on the secure his first win since the Finland Rally in 2021.
He joins team-mate Sebastien Ogier at the top of the WRC standings, with both Toyota drivers on 69 points after four of 13 rounds.
Ogier, who was penalized one minute for driving while his belts were not correctly fastened on stage two, finished fifth in Croatia having already won at Monte Carlo and Mexico this season.
Evans, the 2020 and 2021 WRC runner-up, had finished fourth in the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally and fifth in Sweden before taking third in Mexico.
The next event is the Rally de Portugal, 11-14 May.
Kelly wins Junior WRC on emotional weekend
There was an emotional finish in the Junior WRC class as Irish driver Eamonn Kelly took his first victory in the championship and dedicated his win to Breen.
Kelly, taking part in only his second Junior WRC event, capitalised on technical issues for rivals Laurent Pellier and Belgium's Tom Rensonnet to take the lead of the event on the penultimate stage.
Motorsport Ireland driver William Creighton, who won the opening round of the season in Sweden, won 10 of the 20 stages but an accident on Saturday's opening stage ruled him out of contention for victory.
However, he returned on Sunday to maintain his championship lead and was at the finish congratulate Kelly on his victory on a difficult weekend for Irish motorsport.
"I'm lost for words. It has been the stuff of dreams for me but it has been an emotional week," said Kelly.
"There's no question about who we will dedicate this win to. There was a man up there in the sky shining down on us today. That was for him."