After a strong debut in Citroen's DS 3 world rally car in Sweden last weekend, Craig Breen has warned that the next part of his WRC journey will be much more difficult.

The 26-year-old Irishman finished eighth on his first run out with the Citroën-supported Abu Dhabi Total team and collected the first WRC drivers' championship points of his career.

But although Breen was delighted with his Swedish experience, especially beating world champion Sébastien Ogier with third-fastest time on Friday's Svullrya stage, he is expecting the learning curve to get steeper from here.

"For my first rally with this car and this team I'm really, really happy. I couldn't have asked for more," he told wrc.com.

"It surprised me how quickly I've been able to get up to speed. I expected it would take two or three rallies to get to the point I'm at now. Now we have to move the goalposts a little bit. Okay I've made the big step, now I've got to find the extra five or ten percent, and that gets harder."

The Abu Dhabi Total team has not yet confirmed when Breen will return to its squad. But as he bids for a place in Citroën's long term WRC plans, he believes he'll have to up his game to impress them.

"For this event alone we've done the best job we can. It was the best way to start the year. But for the future I need to do more. Hopefully I'll get a lot more kilometres behind the wheel of this car," he said.

Craig Breen @ Rally Sweden: http://on.fb.me/1Tp2nZ3

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