But to be able to do so as imperiously as Breen achieved in recent years spoke of something more than that.

It spoke of a profound sense of destiny and faith, of an unyielding recognition that this story would never be his alone.

It seems scarcely believable in an age of the most sophisticated safety standards that, just as he lost his co-driver Gareth ‘Jaffa’ Roberts in freak circumstances at the 2012 Rally Targa Florio, Breen himself has now perished in a testing accident.

The news coming out of Croatia around lunchtime on Thursday thus pitched Ireland’s rallying community into an almost disbelieving trance.

How exactly do you process horror like this?

It was just after 2.30pm when Hyundai Motorsport released a statement, confirming news that had, for the previous hour, found whispering traction on social media.

The statement read: “Hyundai Motorsport is deeply saddened to confirm that driver Craig Breen today lost his life following an accident during the pre-event test for Croatia Rally.

“Co-driver James Fulton was unharmed in the incident that occurred just after midday local time.”

When Roberts lost his life eleven years ago, an armco barrier piercing the co-driver’s side of their Peugeot in what should have been a relatively minor incident, Breen described the loss thus: “I have lost half of me!”

For a time, it seemed unlikely that he could ever summon the appetite to rally again but the unequivocal support of Roberts’ distraught family played a major role in persuading him back behind the wheel.

Incredibly, Breen then won the last three rounds of that year’s SWRC to claim a second consecutive junior world rally title.

His Twitter handle since has always carried the line ‘Miss you Jaff’.

Worlds can fracture like china in just about every serious strand of motorsport and Craig’s own rallying hero, Frank Meagher, was himself killed at just 39 in a testing accident close to his home in Cloneen.

Meagher represented a golden age for Irish rallying, a time in which men like Austin Mac Hale, Bertie Fisher and Andrew Nesbitt drew massive crowds to witness the spectacular rapport they could reach with state-of-the-art rally cars.

But before Breen, only Billy Coleman and Rosemary Smith of Irish drivers ever really came close to full-time careers in the sport.

Indeed, Coleman’s fourth-place finish at the 1985 Tour de Corse represented the best finish by an Irish driver at world championship level until Craig’s first season at the highest altitude brought a third-place finish at the iconic Rally Finland.

Shortly after that drive in October of 2016, he spoke to this writer of the strange paradox between how the world’s best rally drivers were treated in other parts of the world compared to Ireland.

“In Finland, it’s their national sport,” he said. “Rallying first, ice-hockey second. You’re like rock stars over there, you can hardly walk down the street without being collared. The passion for it is just unbelievable.”

He always spoke with palpable emotion about the day his father, Ray, was crowned national rally champion at the age of 45.

Former Waterford hurling goalkeeper, Stephen O’Keeffe, is a first cousin, but Craig’s only real passion was rooted in those childhood days working at one event or another alongside Ray’s service crew.

The support of his family had been incalculable as Breen immersed himself into one of the most stressful environments in professional sport, an environment in which the tiniest miscalculation can have devastating impact.

After a difficult spell with MSport, in which he’d struggled to get the best of the Ford Puma, Breen was now sharing a part-time seat with Hyundai with Spanish driver, Dani Sordo.

And in his only outing so far in this year’s championship, he’d finished in an outstanding second place at Rally Sweden behind Ott Tanak.

Tanak was among Breen’s peers expressing shock at the news emerging from Croatia.

“I can’t believe I’m writing this now” said the Estonian.

“Life can be so fragile and unfair. I can’t believe we’ve lost you mate. We’ve just been texting and another moment you’re not answering anymore. I’ll miss you buddy, so bad. So so bad…

“My deepest condolences to Craig’s family, friends and all WRC family. There are no words, everything is just broken.”

Dungannon’s Kris Meeke, himself a former world championship driver, said: “Life just doesn’t care. Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason. Just emptiness.”