Raikkonen rolls during shakedown

The crew are out of the car and believed to be uninjured. There are no further details on the level of damage to the Finn's Citroen, the team is waiting to see the C4 before they can make a decision on whether Raikkonen and his co-driver Kaj Lindstrom can make this evening's start of the Salou-based event.

"Kimi has rolled in a left corner," reported the team. "The car went tipped on a bank on the inside and rolled to the outside. The car is quite bad, we don't know if they will start."

The shakedown stage for this year's Catalunya Rally is a mixed-surface stage to reflect the gravel and asphalt nature of the opening leg of the penultimate round of this year's World Rally Championship.

The crews faced two kilometres of asphalt driving on Pirelli's Scorpion gravel tyre, the cars are also fitted with gravel-specification suspension, which means they ride much higher and offer far less precision in corners.

For Raikkonen, this is the latest in an incident-packed season for the former Formula 1 racer - and it hasn't come at the best time, as he and his management team aim to secure a deal to continue in the WRC next year.