The ninth special stage of the Rally Croatia 2022 had to be abandoned after Oliver Solberg’s Hyundai caught fire following a run-off
Hyundai driver Oliver Solberg caused a scare on Saturday at Rally Croatia, round three of the 2022 World Rally Championship (WRC). 3.9 kilometres after the start of the ninth special stage “Kostanjevac – Petrus Vrh 1”, the 20-year-old lost control of his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 in a left-hand bend and went off the road.
Solberg hit the road backwards with the car catching fire. However, Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson were able to extricate themselves from the vehicle uninjured and under their own power, Hyundai confirmed.
“Oliver and Elliott went off the road on the ninth special stage and damaged the rear of the car. The exhaust caught fire and the rear was on fire. The fire was quickly extinguished. We will recover the car and investigate the damage,” Hyundai announced.
The ninth special stage, the first on Saturday, was first interrupted and then abandoned by the race control in order to carry out the fire-fighting and recovery work. The tenth special stage was started with a delay of about 40 minutes.
After eight special stages, Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) was leading the overall standings ahead of Ott Tänak (Hyundai) and Craig Breen (Ford). Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) dropped from second to fourth after a time penalty for a traffic violation.
