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Elfyn Evans has been forced to pull out of Rally Mexico after co-driver Daniel Barritt was taken to hospital with a suspected concussion following a high-speed roll in the morning loop.
Evans was running third when he hit a bank in sixth gear, eventually pitching the Ford Fiesta WRC into a big accident.
M-Sport team boss Malcolm Wilson confirmed the pair’s withdrawal from the event on safety grounds.
“The problem right now is with Dan, we’ve had to take him to hospital with concussion,” Wilson said.
“He definitely won’t be continuing this afternoon.
“The guys can definitely fix the car but unfortunately we can’t continue because of Dan’s situation, we can’t take the risk.
“It’s a bit confusing at the minute because it was very high speed, [Elfyn] managed to control the car after the bumps, then he went wide on the next corner and he hit a bank.
“There is extensive damage to the left-hand side and quite a lot of suspension damage as well so it has taken a huge impact.”
Evans vacated the car straight away but managed to drive it through SS5 and service for repairs.
“To be honest, I couldn’t believe how little damage there was on the car after what happened,” explained Evans.
“We hit a row of bumps and they were a lot worse than expected, and then I lost control of the rear of the car, unfortunately still in sixth gear and I didn’t have enough power to pull me out of the slide.
“We clipped a bank on the inside and it went over I don’t know how many times.”