MINI driver Dani Sordo will not be re-starting the second day of Rally Sweden, his Prodrive team has confirmed.
The Spaniard went off on the eighth stage and got stuck in a snow bank for nearly two minutes. This caused a radiator blockage that also resulted in the alternator belt jumping off the unit, following the impact.
The car began to overheat and went into safe mode, which forced Sordo to stop towards the end of the stage. However, Sordo did not quite stop soon enough, which meant that the engine is now too badly damaged to re-start.
As a result, Prodrive will be running one car only for the rest of the event, driven by local man Patrik Sandell.
Prodrive’s business development director Richard Taylor commented: “It was just an unfortunate mistake from Dani: he went off the road and that was what ultimately caused the engine to overheat.
"We didn’t know until we got the car back to service whether or not he would be able to continue, but now that we’ve looked at it, sadly it’s not going to be possible for him to carry on. That’s a pity as he was doing very well up to that point.”