Ogier crashes heavily in pre-Finland test

Sebastien Ogier’s pre-Rally Finland test has come to an early end after he crashed his M-Sport Fiesta into a tree.

Ogier was on his final run when he hit a rock which he had dragged onto the road during his previous pass.

The impact broke the suspension and caused the Frenchman to run off-course and into a tree.

While Ogier was uninjured, the car cannot be repaired in time for Elfyn Evans and Teemu Suninen to test on Friday and Saturday respectively.

While Evans will now start Rally Finland without a pre-event test, M-Sport is hoping to get Suninen’s Fiesta WRC out to Jyvaskyla early in order for him to test in that car.

Fellow M-Sport driver Ott Tanak tested earlier in the week.

Ogier starts next week’s Rally Finland leading the drivers’ championship by 11 points.

In recent years, Finland hasn’t been the happiest of hunting grounds for the four-time world champion.

After taking his first Finland win in 2013, Ogier lost out to fellow Volkswagen driver Jari-Matti Latvala in the next two seasons and then slipped off the road and out of third place 12 months ago.

Rally Finland takes place from July 27-30.