WRC

The nine-time champion slid off the road on a sweeping right-hand corner, his Citroen DS3 WRC rolling and ending upside down in a ditch.

Both Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena are out of the car and on their way back to the service park in Strasbourg.

The incident is believed to have happened early in the morning’s first stage and the car has come to a halt in an area where there are no spectators.

Following the crash, Loeb was out of the car and walking away from the upended Citroen, indicating he did not expect to get going again.

Loeb was running fourth, five seconds off the lead and firmly embroiled in a massive fight for victory on his last ever WRC event.

Loeb’s Citroen team-mate Dani Sordo said: “There is so much standing water around, it’s very easy to make a mistake.”

Sordo is now running second in the classification, 7.3 seconds behind new rally leader Sebastien Ogier following the Vignoble de Cleebourg test.

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