The nine-time world champion and 2022 Rallye Monte-Carlo winner Sébastien Loeb has retired from the rally for the day as the Frenchman crashed out on the first stage of the afternoon loop at Rally de Portugal.
Loeb lost the control of his M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1 about 20 metres from the start line on the Special Stage 5 – Lousã 2 and crashed in to a brick wall on the very fast left-hander.
The car picked up damage on the rear-right corner and unfortunately couldn’t continue, both Loeb and his co-driver Isabelle Galmice are okay as the impact was on very low speed.
Before the accident, Loeb was leading the rally with just 0.5 second over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans who has retaken the lead at the moment; The Welshman had led the rally after the two morning stages before Loeb passed him on special stage 4 – Arganil 1. Evans is now leading the rally with 2.1 seconds over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville who was the fastest on the Super Special Stage – Coimbra yesterday evening.
