Galli apologises after breaking co-drivers nose!

Former Mitsubishi works driver, Gigi Galli has apologised to his co-driver, Giovanni Bernacchini after an incident at the end of the second day of the Rally d'Italia Sardegna, left him nursing a broken nose!

Galli was forced out following the final stage on Saturday with engine problems, having just slipped to fourth, 1.3 seconds behind Daniel Sordo. The Italian's Bozian ran Peugeot 307 WRC began to overheat on the road section back to service after he had sustained damaged to the fan and radiator. He thus stopped and attempted to top up the water in the radiator, however when he threw the water bottle to Bernacchini he did so a little too vigorously...

"When I tried to refill the bottle I threw it to Giovanni and hit him on his nose. I am sorry," Galli told the official WRC programme screened on ITV1 in the UK.

It was a bad end to his three-event programme with the Pirelli backed car, after he finished ninth on his debut with it in Corsica and third in Argentina - his first podium in the WRC.

Whether or not Galli will compete again this season remains to be seen, however at this stage the only thing that is certain is that he won't be in action on the Acropolis Rally in two weeks time.

Asked in the pre-event press conference, why he was the only top Italian competing in Sardinia he replied: "I think it [the WRC] is too expensive; this is the main problem. I think that when Fiat and Lancia were in the WRC it was better for some Italian drivers, but it is a combination of reasons. One more is that the sport does not yet get a lot of coverage on TV in Italy, so it is not that easy to find money to help. I received help by a big sponsor, Pirelli, but there is not really any other big chance to get big sponsors in Italy. It's difficult to explain the exact reason. It is a combination of many things put together."