Robert Kubica’s awful season took another turn for the worse when the Pole crashed his Ford Fiesta RS in the 26.48km Almodôvar test (SS4).
Kubica was 11km from the finish when he hit a tree while cutting a bend and the impact ripped a front wheel from the car. It came to rest blocking the road and a host of drivers, including Juho Hänninen and Khalid Al Qassimi, manhandled it out of the way before driving slowly to the finish.
Organisers cancelled the stage and those that were delayed or didn’t complete the test will receive a notional time
That could be a lucky break for Hänninen. Before reaching the blockage, the Finn stopped for more than two minutes to change a puncture and the stewards will decide whether to factor that delay into his notional time.
Elfyn Evans was another to fall foul of Almodôvar. The Welshman rolled several times 17km into the stage, his Fiesta RS ending at the bottom of a steep bank. TV crews report he missed a braking point and hit a bank.
Amid the drama, Sébastien Ogier regained the lead and heads team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala by 0.4sec.