Hanninen crashes heavily in Portugal

The Finn was one of the fastest drivers on the mid-Atlantic island's gravel rally, and appears to have lost control on a fast left-hander. He hit a wall and rolled to a halt in the middle of the stage.

The following Peugeot of Bruno Magalhaes was forced to stop as the inverted Skoda was blocking the stage.

"It was three or four kilometres into the stage," said the Portuguese. "It was a fast corner, very narrow. There was a wall on the inside... some of it is now in the middle of the road. We had to wait until a lot of [spectators] could move the car and clear the way."

When asked about Hanninen and co-driver Mikko Markkula's condition, Magalhaes replied: "They are okay; the car is not."

Hanninen was fighting back after losing over 10 minutes this morning, when he clipped a wall and damaged his car, forcing him to hobble through the next stage before his mechanics could fix it.