M-Sport unsure on cause of strange WRC Rally Sweden power issues

Breen ground to halt less than two kilometres into the day’s penultimate stage after his Ford Puma lost all power.

The Irishman was able to briefly resume using full electric power but only to move his car out of the way of his rivals.

The problem was unable to be rectified meaning he would miss the final stage and retire for the second time this weekend, after burying his Puma in a snowbank on Friday morning.

Breen had shown strong pace on Saturday after winning stage 11, his first since joining the team.

On the following stage teammate Fourmaux suffered a similar loss of power but the Frenchman was able to re-fire the car and coast to the finish using his internal combustion engine. The delay dropped Fourmaux from sixth to 15th overall in the standings.

M-Sport managing director Malcolm Wilson is unsure as to the cause of the issues but is not expecting a late night form his team to find a solution.

“We've had a couple of technical issues today with Craig and Adrien which I didn't expect, if I'm going to be honest," Wilson told Autosport.

“And as we all know, it's new cars, new conditions, but it's not what we wanted, that's for sure.

"We're just trying to get to the bottom of it at the moment. It was after a small sort of compression bump, but I mean it shouldn't be an issue," he added when asked about Breen’s issue.

“I've only spoke to Adrien briefly, but he said he switched it off in the stage and started back up again, and it was okay, so again, another strange one. Obviously a bit of a diagnosis to do tonight.

“But we want to do [solve] Craig's first to see if there was something that will effect these cars.”

M-Sport’s other entry of Gus Greensmith managed to complete the day’s six stages unscathed and will head into Sunday’s final four stages in sixth position.