(Reuters) -Toyota’s world championship leader Kalle Rovanpera rolled out of his home Rally Finland while leading on Friday, handing the advantage to team mate Elfyn Evans.
The 22-year-old lost control on a right-hand corner 11.1 km into stage eight, with the car coming to rest on its roof on the side of the track.
Toyota said Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen were out of the car and unhurt, with the car too damaged to continue after spectators pushed it back upright.
Evans was leading Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville by 9.7 seconds after eight of the day’s nine stages.
M-Sport Ford’s overnight leader Ott Tanak had already retired after damaging his car beyond immediate repair on the third stage.
The Estonian, world champion with Toyota in 2019, was fourth in the driver standings going into the ninth of 13 rounds this season.
“Due to impact damage on SS3 (stage three), sadly we have been left with no choice but to retire Ott’s car from Rally Finland,” M-Sport said.
Tanak won Thursday’s opening stage in Jyvaskyla but had dropped to third before he damaged the car’s engine on the Lankamaa stage and switched to electric mode before stopping.
“It’s a shame we can’t continue but the car is too damaged for us to carry on,” said Tanak, who suffered a five minute penalty for a change of engine in his home Estonia round last month.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Christian Radnedge and Pritha Sarkar)
