SS5 nullified following Duval crash.

Organisers of the Uddeholm Swedish Rally have been forced nullify the results of special stage 5 of the event - Brunnberg 1, following Francois Duval's crash.

Although neither, Duval or his co-driver, Jean-Marc Fortin were injured, the Ford Focus RS WRC blocked the route and the decision was taken to stop the test.

Stewards have since released the following statement:

"After due deliberation and taking into consideration the fact that five cars had completed the stage and in an attempt to take a decision that is the fairest under the circumstances, we have decided to neutralise the results of SS5 by cancelling the stage."

For the record Richard Burns had set the quickest time through the test, negotiating it in 15 minutes 36.9 seconds, with Carlos Sainz second, six seconds slower. However, as Duval was only the sixth car through a number of competitors were compromised before the stage was stopped, including rally leader Marcus Gronholm, who didn't set a representative time.

Duval was the only retirement of the day - the Ford driver had been running 19th overall prior to retiring.