Atkinson blames dust for crash

The Subaru driver had recovered to fifth position after receiving time penalties for being late out of service on Saturday. With fourth placed Xavier Pons out of reach, Atkinson was trying to bring the car safely home when he went off halfway through the final stage of the event.

"Before the last stage we had gone consistently all weekend, made no mistakes and had kept a good pace," Atkinson said.

"Obviously to end the rally like we did is very disappointing, but there was a lot of dust coming into the car and I got distracted."

Team boss Luis Moya played down the incident and praised Atkinson's driving during the rest of the rally.

"Overall Chris has had a very encouraging event," Moya said. "His performance has been at a good level throughout; he's been focussed and consistent.

"He was unfortunate on the last stage when he was distracted by some dust in the car after a very good run in the morning."

Atkinson had run second early in the rally before slipping back to fifth place as leg one went on. He then sustained damage after a heavy landing over a notorious jump on Saturday morning, and incurred the time penalties when repairs over-ran during the lunchtime service.

Although he did not reach the finish of the event, under the SupeRally system he was awarded a penalty time for the final stage and was classified tenth in the final results.