Two hurt as car skids off road in Rally of France

STRASBOURG, France (AFP) –

Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah drives his Citroen DS3 during the 16th stage of the Wales Rally on September 16. Two spectators have been injured after the Citroen DS3 driven by Attiyah went off the road during the tenth stage of the Rally of France.

Two spectators have been injured after the Citroen DS3 driven by Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah went off the road during the tenth stage of the Rally of France on Saturday.

“The injured pair are suffering from fractures – one to an arm, the other a leg. They were brought to hospital by ambulance,” press spokeswoman Francoise Despierre told AFP.

The reasons for the accident during the 43.45km run at Pays d’Ormont, the longest stage in the race, in the north-eastern Alsace region are still not known, but the remainder of the special was suspended with the leaders having already completed.

Jari-Matti Latvala dropped back in his pursuit of race leader Sebastien Loeb after his Ford Fiesta earlier skidded in the wet and went into a ditch.

The Finn took 18.0ssec more than Loeb to complete the run, slipping 33sec behind the Citroen driver in the overall standings.

His advantage over third-placed Citroen driver and compatriot Mikko Hirvonen is now down to 10.8sec with two stages left to run on Saturday.

Alsace native Loeb added: “We have done a good stage because we have increased our lead and we will see the gap after the stage. It’s important to keep a good rhythm and that’s what we try to do.”