Spectators hurt in Rally Argentina crash

Nicholas McGee

Spectators hurt in Rally Argentina crash image

Several spectators were injured in a crash at the Rally Argentina that forced Super Stage Nine to be cancelled on Saturday.

The incident involved the Hyundai of Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard, who both escaped unhurt.

However, emergency services were required to attend to a number of injured fans, with the stage stopped after just five cars had begun the course.

The rally was later re-routed to the start of Super Stage 10.

Details on the status of the injured fans remained unclear but a statement from rally organisers read: "SS9 was interrupted due to an accident involving Hyundai i20 N20 of Hayden Paddon and John Kennard. The incident involved spectators who were immediately assisted by the emergency services belonging to the race.

"Due to sanitary ambulances of the race being affected to this accident, the organisation established the immediate interruption of SS9. The race will continue with SS10, which will start at 1637hrs [local time] as established.

"The organisation will continue updating on any new details concerning the accident."

When the action resumed, Citroen driver Kris Meeke continued to lead the way, although he had to overcome a pair of mishaps to retain an advantage at the top of the standings.

The Brit spun on day three's opening stage - won by defending World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier - before losing 21 seconds to team-mate Mads Ostberg on an eighth stage that saw Ogier's Volkswagen colleague Jari-Matti Latvala collide with a hill.

Things looked set to go from bad to worse on stage 10 for Meeke when he stalled his engine on the entry to a water splash.

 However, he recovered from that blunder to rebuild his lead to 38.6 seconds over Ostberg and is now confident of becoming the first Brit to win a World Rally stage since Colin McRae's triumph in Kenya in 2002.

 Asked about the stall, Meeke said: "A sensor alarm went off. I panicked and didn't know what to do. I had to switch it off and on again.

 "Just 32km tomorrow. I think it will be a Sunday drive for me."

Nicholas McGee