World Rally champion Thierry Neuville has retired from the lead of Rally Italy Sardinia after misjudging a jump at high speed.
Neuville had taken the lead back from Hyundai team-mate Adrien Fourmaux on the first stage of the afternoon, but got it wrong on SS5.
Through a fast section of jumps, Neuville lost the rear and clouted a bank with his rear-left, which instantly damaged his suspension and spelt the end of his day.
The Belgian slowed and parked his i20 N Rally1 at the first available stopping point.
Takamoto Katsuta was another to be in the wars, as he rolled his Toyota on the stage after clipping the inside of a slow hairpin.
Spectators were able to push the car back onto its wheels and Katsuta therefore continued, but not after losing almost a minute.
The same corner later caught out M-Sport privateer Jourdan Serderidis, who then created an issue for Yohan Rossel as he was caught in the Greek’s dust.
“It’s so, so dangerous. At 10km I stop immediately because it’s impossible to see the road,” said Rossel.
Fourmaux leads the rally by 1.2s over team-mate Ott Tänak.
