WRC Central Europe: Stage 15 cancelled as Thierry Neuville c...

Reigning world rally champion Thierry Neuville has retired from the Central European Rally after a crash with a bridge forced officials to cancel stage 15.

Neuville had started Sunday’s leg sitting in seventh position, but just four kilometres into the 12.37km Beyond Borders stage, the Hyundai driver hit trouble. Neuville’s i20 N slid wide entering a narrow bridge, hitting a hay bale that was protecting the edge of the structure. It resulted in a heavy impact with the side of the bridge, causing severe damage to the front of the car, which then blocked the road.

Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe were able to exit the vehicle and were reported to be OK following the incident.

The stage was red-flagged to allow marshals to remove the stricken car blocking the entrance to the bridge, although a significant amount of fluid had poured from the car onto the road surface.

After evaluating the situation, rally control opted to cancel the stage, signalling crews to head to stage 16.

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

Only three cars had successfully completed the stage before the decision was made to cancel the stage.

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier had set the pace, having rejoined the rally after crashing out on stage 10 on Saturday. Ogier was 8.6s faster than M-Sport’s Josh McErlean while the sister M-Sport Ford Puma of Gregoire Munster was 12.6s shy of Ogier’s pace.