Oliver Solberg crashed out of the penultimate stage of Rally Islas Canarias while trying to hunt down rally leader Sebastien Ogier.
The rally was building towards a titanic finish after Solberg had closed the gap to leader Ogier down to 2.2s after the first two stages of Sunday morning.
The Toyota driver continued to push in the second pass through the 25.93km Ingenio – Valsequillo test in the hope of taking more time out of Ogier. However, the 24-year-old took too much speed into a right hander and ran wide clipping a barrier.
The damage incurred to the front left of his GR Yaris was too severe to continue. Both Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson emerged from the car unscathed following the impact.
The retirement brought an end to a thrilling split-second battle with Ogier throughout the rally that witnessed the pair being separated by tenths of seconds across Saturday’s stages.
The accident will come as a blow to Solberg’s championship bid after salvaging only 10 points from Croatia following a crash in the opening stage earlier this month.
Solberg’s demise handed reigning world champion Ogier a 24.3s rally lead over Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans, with only the Power Stage remaining.
“It is not the way we wanted to see it go. Oliver was doing a great job up until that point,” said Ogier when he heard about Solberg’s retirement. “Rallying is tough. Being fast is important but being at the end even more. I never panic when I see him pushing, I kept my rhythm. I’m sorry for you Oliver I’m sure we will have some more battles.”
Sami Pajari inherited third with a 12.3s margin ahead of Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta.
Adrien Fourmaux moved to fifth with the Frenchman the best of the Hyundais, ahead of Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo. M-Sport’s Josh McErlean completed the top eight.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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