M-Sport World Rally Team pilot Ott Tanak has retired from Wales Rally 🐎GB after crashing in Sunday's opening stage.

The incident happened 5.05km into the 10.64km Brenig 1 te𒁃st when the Estonian ran wide on a right hand bend. Tanak and co-driver Raigo Molder both escaped unharmed, but were unable to continue as their Fiesta RS WRC sustained damaged to the rear left.

Tanak had been running fourth overall, having finished d♕ay two with a 14.7s cushion over nearest rival, Hyundai'sꦕ Dani Sordo.

"It's hard to explain what happened," Tanak said b🐻ack in service. "It wasn't a proper off. The left wheel was just slightly off line and there was a rock which broke a bracket on the wishbone. It was as easy as that - hardly any damage but enough to end our rally."

"There are still many p🉐ositives that I will take away from this season," he added. "Since Sard🦂inia we have always had the pace to fight for the podium on gravel.

"Things haven't always gone to plan🃏🍨, but for our first year in a manufacturer team we wanted to prove that we had the speed to challenge at the top.

"This is a sport where experience is really important. If you want to carry that spe𓂃ed throughout the weekend you need the experience.