The road to nowhere

19th November 2011

Sebastien Loeb may have considered himself unlucky to be taken out of the Rally GB by a wayward rental car on a road section, but it's not the first time and won't be the last time that a non-competitive section has spelt disaster for one of the sport's top stars.

Here are a few more recent occasions where the drivers concerned wish they'd stuck to the special stages. It's safer there...

Armin Schwarz, 1989 RAC Rally, Audi 200 Quattro

Having taken the barge-like Audi 200 Quattro to a mightily impressive fifth overall on the 1988 RAC Rally, Armin was hoping for a similar achievement in Britain the following year with one of the world's most unlikely rally cars. For a while, he was on course, but then it all went horribly wrong.

"A car just came out of nowhere on a narrow road and hit us," said the German – who was the victim of another freak accident on the 2001 Rally Argentina, when his Skoda was destroyed after a fire truck rolled onto it in a service area.

"It was absolutely unbelievable and our rally was over because the car was too damaged," said Schwarz. "At the time I was quite annoyed but now it is OK."

Petter Solberg, 2006 Acropolis Rally, Subaru Impreza WRC

Solberg was running third on the Acropolis when his Subaru was attacked by a hit-and-run driver on day two. The Norwegian was minding his own business until he found a car in the middle of the road – which refused to budge.

"I came around a right hand bend, completely on the inside like you should do, and a car was in the middle of the road," said Solberg. "I didn't want to touch him, so I was so much inside that I hit a rock and bent the steering. It snapped straightaway. I was on my side... It's so bad."

To add insult to injury, aware that he had done something very bad indeed, the driver of the rogue car fled the scene. Let's hope he still has that on his conscience now.

Sebastien Loeb and Conrad Rautenbach, 2008 Jordan Rally, Citroen C4 WRC

Sebastien Loeb couldn't have seen this one – or indeed Conrad Rautenbach – coming. He was coming out of SS11 of the Jordan Rally in the lead, while Rautenbach was approaching the stage. They met on a narrow blind bend, in very similar circumstances to Loeb's accident in Wales, with nowhere for either Citroen C4 WRC to go. The result was instant retirement.

Once more, Loeb took the slings and arrows of misfortune with good grace. "It was nobody's fault," he said. "Just one of those strange accidents."

Guerlain Chicherit, 2011 Dakar Rally, Mini Countryman

On the debut of the new Mini Countryman in the Dakar, former freestyle skier Guerlain Chicherit was given just one mission: bring it home. He could do whatever he wanted on the event apart from crash. And up until the rest day halfway through the event, he was doing just that. As usual, the car was stripped down and rebuilt during the day off, with just a systems check needed before re-starting the rally. Guerlain and his mechanic took the car down the road, and in circumstances as nebulous as the Andes in winter, he rolled. Several times. The car didn't restart and neither did Guerlain: apoplectic team boss Sven Quandt effectively sacked him on the spot.

Kimi Raikkonen and Henning Solberg, 2011 Rally of France, Citroen DS3 WRC and Ford Fiesta WRC

Kimi Raikkonen's WRC career has featured a number of bizarre adventures, but few more unlikely than his retirement in France this year, when he launched his Citroen off the back of Henning Solberg's Ford on the road section approaching the Pays d'Ormont stage - to Solberg's surprise.

"I was just driving in a straight line on a straight road. I wasn't weaving to warm up the tyre or anything like that, just driving," said the Norwegian, who was unscathed and went on to finish sixth. "I felt the hit from the back of the car, but it was soft, not a big impact or anything. When I looked in the mirror I saw Raikkonen flying off and into the ditch. I don't know what happened."

Raikkonen described the accident as "stupid", suggested he'd been caught out when Solberg slowed to warm his brakes, and promptly headed home early once again...