WRC
Solberg retires from Canarias victory fight
Oliver Solberg has retired from Rally Islas Canarias after crashing out of second place on Sunday's penultimate stage.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver went off the road and struck an armco barrier during SS17 Ingenio - Valsequillo 2. Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson were both unharmed, but their GR Yaris Rally1 was too badly damaged to continue.
The incident came while Solberg was locked in a close fight for victory with team-mate Sébastien Ogier. He had started the final day 3.8sec behind the nine-time world champion and reduced the gap to just 2.2sec after the opening two stages of Sunday’s loop.
Solberg had set the pace on both SS15 and SS16 in tricky, changing conditions, first edging Ogier by 0.6sec through a damp and greasy Ingenio - Valsequillo opener before taking another second from him on Santa Lucía - Agüimes.
His retirement removes Ogier’s closest challenger from the rally lead and promotes Elfyn Evans to second place, with Sami Pajari moving into the final podium spot.
