OMV Kronos Citroen's Manfred Stohl has confirmed that a pace-note error was to blame of his off on day 2 of the Rally Ireland.

Stohl, who had begun the day in seventh, was running outside of the points, as he had already lost around 6 minutes with an off in SS11, when going into Tempo 1, SS13, he went off again.

This time however he was not able to continue as his Citroen Xsara WRC went through a gate and hit a concrete pole.

“Our pace note was 'crest full – 60 metres – crest into right three'. That unfortunately was much too fast, the right turn proved impossible to take,” he explained.

“That then was the end of the rally. I am extremely sad for the team. The fault was in the notes and definitely not in the reading.

“I did have troubles writing the notes in the first place and like many other drivers I judged things much faster than they can actually be driven.”

Stohl is now hoping he can end the year on a high in two weeks time, when he heads to Wales for Rally GB, the season finale.

“Now all that could help us salvage a rather modest season would be an absolute top result in Wales,” he continued, “and I will definitely try my very, very best there.”