Hyundai ace Thierry Neuville crashes out of the lead of Ypres Rally

World Rally Championship frontrunner Thierry Neuville has crashed out of the lead of the Ypres Rally.

He rolled at high speed into a ditch on SS6 while heading Bryan Bouffier in a lead battle in which the gap between the pair was under three seconds.

He was making a one-off appearance in the event in a Hyundai Belgium-backed i20 R5.

Skoda Fabia R5 driver Bouffier inherits the lead over sometime Hyundai-works driver Kevin Abbring, now driving a Peugeot 208 T16 R5. After SS7, the 2011 Monte Carlo Rally winner had a lead of 21.1s.

Vincent Verschuren, a favourite for the local Belgian Rally Championship, rounds out the top three after six stages.

The British Rally Championship is part of the event as a whole for the first time, with championship leader Fredrik Ahlin and M-Sport works driver Keith Cronin involved in a tight battle for series honours.

Ahlin is seventh overall and Cronin ninth, with less than 15s between them.

Neuville will restart the rally on Saturday morning.

Zdroj: autosport.com