Takamoto Katsuta made a mistake on the very first stage of Rally Chile, less than four miles into the event.
The Toyota driver led the World Rally Championship in April after back-to-back victories in Kenya and Croatia, but has endured a difficult run of form in recent rallies.
At Rally del Paraguay two weeks ago, Katsuta crashed his Toyota on both Friday and Sunday; the second of those accidents necessitating a co-driver switch for Chile, with Aaron Johnston recovering from a fractured collarbone.
Katsuta and new co-driver James Fulton were quickest on Thursday’s shakedown stage, but Katsuta ran wide and hit a bank on SS1 Turquía which pulled the front of his car in and left him stuck.
The Japanese therefore retired for the day, as team-mate Oliver Solberg took the lead by 1.4 seconds over Elfyn Evans.
Adrien Fourmaux was third fastest, and said: “I saw Taka off, it was a very slippery corner – globally, it’s a tricky stage.”
