Citroen Junior Team driver Kimi Raikkonen made a dramatic exit from the opening day of Rally Bulgaria, crashing his C4 World Rally Car out of fourth place on Friday’s final stage.
The Formula One star was 19.5km into the repeated Belmen Lake stage when his car left the road. Kimi and his co-driver Kaj Lindstrom were uninjured in the accident.
Emergency vehicles were despatched to the scene, and cars behind Raikkonen were yellow flagged and completed the stage at slow speed.
Before the incident, Sebastien Loeb wrapped up a perfect opening day on Rally Bulgaria by setting the fastest time though SS4 and completing a clean sweep of stage wins.
Overall standings after SS4:
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Sébastien LOEB | Citroën C4 WRC | 1h05m26.7s |
| 02 | Dani SORDO | Citroën C4 WRC | +28.1s |
| 03 | Petter SOLBERG | Citroën C4 WRC | +38.0s |
| 04 | Mikko HIRVONEN | Ford Focus WRC | +1m10.9s |
| 05 | Jari-Matti LATVALA | Ford Focus WRC | +1m21.2s |
| 06 | Sébastien OGIER | Citroën C4 WRC | +1m31.3s |
| 07 | Per Gunnar ANDERSSON | Ford Focus WRC | +2m26.3s |
| 08 | Frigyes TURAN | Peugeot 307 WRC | +2m49.1s |
| 09 | Matthew WILSON | Ford Focus WRC | +3m45.6s |
| 10 | Henning SOLBERG | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +4m43.4s |
| 11 | Mathieu ARZENO | Citroën C2 S1600 | +5m17.6s |
| 12 | Thierry NEUVILLE | Citroën C2 S1600 | +5m19.4s |
| 13 | Dimitar ILIEV | Skoda Fabia S2000 | +5m25.1s |
| 14 | Jasen POPOV | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | +5m34.3s |
| 15 | Hans WEIJS | Citroën C2 S1600 | +5m46.7s |