Sebastien Ogier has retired from the first leg of Rally GB after crashing on the opening stage of the event this afternoon.
The Frenchman took a wheel off his Citroen DS3 WRC and was unable to complete the opening Great Orme stage. He will now miss the second run over the Orme, and the subsequent stage through Clocaenog, but will be able to restart from Builth Wells on Friday morning.
Petter Solberg also damaged the right-rear wheel on his Citroen on what was a difficult stage run in mixed, wet and dry conditions.
Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala was fastest through the opening stage, 1.9sec up on Ogier's teammate Sebastien Loeb. Loeb's title rival Mikko Hirvonen was four tenths of a second slower.
"It was a difficult stage," said Latvala. "Midway through the stage, I saw some braking marks on the road and then Ogier's car. He hit the wall and took the wheel off."