Duval's rally goes up in smoke!

Citroen new boy Francois Duval did himself no favours once again today [Saturday], when he crashed out of the Cyprus Rally while lying in sixth place.

The incident occurred on the penultimate test of the day - SS11 - when he hit a tree 4 kilometres.

Duval's rally goes up in smoke!

Citroen new boy Francois Duval did himself no favours once again today [Saturday], when he crashed out of the Cyprus Rally while lying in sixth place.

The incident occurred on the penultimate test of the day - SS11 - when he hit a tree 4 kilometres.

Although neither he nor his co-driver, Stephane Prevot were injured in the off, the accident led to the stage being cancelled, after the car caught fire. It was another blow for the Belgian, who thus far has managed only one decent result in six attempts since leaving Ford at the end of last year. It is also made all the more worse, as his team-mate, Sebastien Loeb is leading, while Manfred Stohl is second, in a privately run Xsara.

Duval though was at least big enough to put his hand up and admit it was his fault.

"The braking zone for the right-hand turn was bumpy. Bumpier than first time through. I braked a little too late, missed the apex and under-steered off the road down a two-metre bank," he explained.

"The front of the car hit a tree and the impact damaged the fuel injection system. A small fire broke out but that was swiftly put out by the onboard extinguishers. I didn't succeed in opening the bonnet but I estimated that the damage wasn't too bad and tried to re-start.

"However, fire broke out again and the flames spread to the dry undergrowth around the car.

"There was nothing we could do..."

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