Loeb to restart on day three

The world champion had to retire from today's stages after a bizarre accident on the way out of SS11.

Loeb collided head-on with Conrad Rautenbach's semi-works Citroen, which was on its way into the stage, on the road section, doing severe damage to both cars.

Although Loeb initially suspected that the incident might have affected his Citroen's engine, a team source confirmed to that he would resume the rally on Sunday, albeit 24 minutes behind the leaders once the penalties for missing today's last five stages were applied.

Prior to the collision, Loeb had been pulling away from the field and was 34 seconds clear of teammate Dani Sordo.

Citroen also revealed that, contrary to initial estimates, both cars had been driving extremely slowly when the collision occurred, with Rautenbach's speed confirmed as 10km/h and Loeb recorded at 7km/h.

But the team source said that it was no surprise that even such a low speed collision should cause such severe damage, as the cars were never expected to be involved in such an accident.

"You have to remember that the cars are not designed for an impact in that area, and the parts are very lightweight," the source told .

Rautenbach is also set to restart tomorrow. The reigning FIA African champion's semi-works Citroen required a new radiator and front cross-member, and has had a chassis leg bent back into place.