Rally Finland leader Kalle Rovanpera and Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans have crashed out of the World Rally Championship event on the penultimate stage.
World champion Rovanpera appeared to be on course to claim his first WRC win on home soil having taken a 45.8s lead into stage 19 [Sahloinen-Moksi, 14.27km].
However, the Finn clipped a rock on the inside of left-hand corner which sent his GR Yaris into the trees. Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen were able to exit the vehicle unharmed, but their victory hopes were ended on the spot.
Rovanpera’s exit has now handed the rally lead to Sebastien Ogier, who heads Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville by 42.5s, with M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux in third.
The incident appeared just moments after Evans crashed out on the same stage meaning the World Rally Championship contender will leave the event without any points.
The Toyota driver lost control of his GR Yaris on the first corner of stage 19 [Sahloinen-Moksi, 14.27km] which resulted in immediate retirement.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Going into a left-hand corner the car appeared to snap toward the right sending Evans and co-driver Scott Martin wide into a ditch. The car then clattered into trees which fired it across the road and into another set of trees. Evans and Martin were unharmed in the incident.
Evans quickly exited the car to clear the road of debris to allow the stage to continue with his GR Yaris perched on the edge of the road.
The crash has brought a premature end to a difficult event that left Evans fighting to salvage only the 12 Super Sunday points, after a driveshaft failure on Saturday put the Welshman out of the victory battle having held second position at the end of Friday.
Evans was then 16 minutes late out of service as the broken driveshaft caused further damage to the car which required a lengthy repair incurring a 2m40s penalty that put him out of the points positions on Saturday.
Evans joins fellow title contender Ott Tanak on the sidelines after the Hyundai driver crashed out on stage three on Friday.
As a result, Hyundai’s Neuville is set to increase his championship lead with four rallies of the season remaining in Greece, Chile, Central Europe and Japan.