Mads Ostberg suffered a dramatic start to Rally Italia Sardegna with a spin and a bent steering arm causing him to drop time on the opening stage of the all-gravel FIA World Rally Championship qualifier.
Ostberg was fastest after the opening three timing splits but completed the 28.14-kilometre Terranova run 11.3s down on stage winner Sebastien Loeb in fourth overall at the wheel of his Adapta World Rally Team Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
“We had a problem quite early on actually,” Ostberg told WRC Live’s George Donaldson. “I thought it was the driveshaft because it was making a really bad nose on the front tyre and I was distracted. Then we got back to rally speed and started to take the time back again. But then on a downhill section there was a stone on the inside of a corner. I hit this and spun and bent the steering arm. But the car feels good now after we adjusted the geometry. It means the wheels are pointing straight again so hopefully we will be okay.”
Ostberg will be the seventh driver to tackle the second 28.14-kilometre Terranova test, which gets underway at 18:16hrs local time.