Loix forced out of season finale.

The Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crew of Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets retired their Lancer Evolution WRC from the Rally of Great Britain today.

The Belgians have been hampered by gearbox problems throughout the event and were ultimately forced out on the road section to stage 11.

With a 33% retirement rate yesterday, only 79 crews took the re-start in Cardiff early this morning and, while conditions in the city were clear, light rain and patchy fog greeted the crews in the stages.

The route, covering 133 competitive kilometres, involved just four forestry stages in South Wales before returning to the city for the final super special stage. However, following an incident involving Carlos Sainz, stages 11 and 12 were cancelled. While the Focus crew is unhurt, the Medical Officer in attendance advised of 12 spectator casualties and, due to the serious nature of the incident, Ford Motor Company has not only withdrawn Sainz from the event but also the third car piloted by Mark Higgins.

Despite dampened spirits and respect for the injured, the battle for the rally victory and Championship title still rages and, while Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm holds a commanding one and a half minute advantage over Richard Burns, the Subaru driver is still poised to take his first title on Sunday afternoon.

The Lancer Evolution WRC crew of Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets have suffered with gearbox problems throughout the rally. Fifth fastest through the opening stage - the longest of the rally at 46.45 kilometres - was an impressive feat given that over half of the stage was completed with a broken rear damper and no third or fifth gear. And, by the next stage, Loix was left struggling with just first, second and sixth.

On arrival at the service park near Swansea, the Mitsubishi engineers could confirm the gear shifting mechanism appeared to be working properly but, having already used the one permitted spare gearbox, the repair options were limited. A last ditch attempt was made by Loix and Smeets, but they were ultimately forced to retire on the road section to stage 11.

"Like Tommi [Makinen], it's very disappointing to go out of the rally. We wanted to finish on a high, but it just wasn't to be," said Loix.

Adding to his comments, Andrew Cowan, Chairman of Mitsubishi Ralliart Europe said: "It has been a very disappointing end to the season after we started in such a strong way. But, we've experienced similar disappointments before and, as history has proved, this only makes us stronger for the future. Our world rally car is improving event by event, and looking to next year we're feeling positive about our driver line-up and believe we can start in Monte Carlo with a car and drivers capable of winning."

The final and decisive leg not only of the Rally of Great Britain but also the FIA World Rally Championship, starts from Cardiff at 06:00 hrs on Sunday. Crews face a further four stages and 108 competitive kilometres before returning to the city for the finish at 16:10 hrs (GMT).