Sebastien Loeb's recent run of bad luck continued on today's longest stage in Poland when the Frenchman crashed his Citroen shortly after the start of SS4 - the last stage of the morning loop.
Loeb began the stage in second place overall and reported that the overheating problem that had affected his car on SS2 had gone away. But 1.2 kilometres from the start of the 33km Paprotki stage Loeb crashed his C4 off the road, damaging its right-hand front suspension. He and his co-driver Daniel Elena are uninjured.
It was the Frenchman's second crash from two events. There is no news yet on whether or not the pair will return on Saturday under Super Rally rules.
Hirvonen now leads of the rally by 2.4sec from his team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala. "There were a lot of tree stumps in the area where Loeb went off, perhaps he hit one," said Latvala, who set the fastest time through the stage. Loeb's team-mate Dani Sordo holds third place overall, 12.3 seconds behind Latvala.
Loeb began the stage in second place overall and reported that the overheating problem that had affected his car on SS2 had gone away. But 1.2 kilometres from the start of the 33km Paprotki stage Loeb crashed his C4 off the road, damaging its right-hand front suspension. He and his co-driver Daniel Elena are uninjured.
It was the Frenchman's second crash from two events. There is no news yet on whether or not the pair will return on Saturday under Super Rally rules.
Hirvonen now leads of the rally by 2.4sec from his team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala. "There were a lot of tree stumps in the area where Loeb went off, perhaps he hit one," said Latvala, who set the fastest time through the stage. Loeb's team-mate Dani Sordo holds third place overall, 12.3 seconds behind Latvala.