Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala is hoping to restart the final day of Rallye Deutschland tomorrow, despite crashing heavily on the penultimate stage of today's leg.
The team is awaiting the return of the Fiesta RS WRC before it can decide if the damage can be fixed, but the Finn is hopeful of more German mileage on the final day. Latvala, who started the day feeling unwell after being sick through the night, made up five places following his engine problem yesterday. But he dropped the Ford on the Birkenfelder test.
"At the end of a sixth-gear straight I braked for a fourth-gear, left-right series of bends," he said. "There was a big cut on the inside and at the end of the cut was a tree stump, which I hadn't noticed. I went deeper into the cut than in the first pass and clipped the stump. I felt the impact and should have slowed immediately because when I braked at the end of the next 100m straight, I realized the front-right tire was flat.
"We were passengers, but I managed to put the car sideways before we went off the road and hit a tree on Miikka's side. It wasn't a massive impact but the car was about three meters from the edge of the road and down a small bank. I hope the team can fix the damage so I can restart tomorrow."
If Latvala is able to rejoin, he will be in 19th place, 16 minutes off the lead.