Robert Kubica’s pre-event test for Rally Finland was interrupted for six hours today after he crashed his Ford Fiesta RS into a tree stump.
The Pole was expected to drive all day Thursday and Friday on roads in Finland’s Jamsa region before the rally gets underway on Thursday 31 July.
But after just 40km this morning, the Pole went off on a right-hand corner, hitting the tree with the left-hand rear corner of his car and picking up extensive suspension and chassis damage.
The car was repaired by the M-Sport mechanics on site and Kubica resumed his test in the late afternoon.
Kubica is the last of the M-Sport drivers to test in Finland. He follows Mikko Hirvonen and Elfyn Evans who drove earlier this week.
Speaking to wrc.com before the incident, M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson hoped Kubica wouldn’t be tempted to push too hard on the Finnish stages.
Wilson said: “Robert will be quick, there’s no question about that, and he was quick there last year in the RRC spec car. But the thing about Finland is that it can easily lull you into a false sense of security.
"You might get away with it once or twice but Finland will always bite you because the speeds are so high. I would like to think he will take a good solid approach – like he did in Argentina.”