Hyundai initially feared World Rally Championship leader Thierry Neuville might have broken a leg in his high speed Rally Chile crash.
The Belgian’s i20 Coupe WRC went off the road halfway through the Maria Las Cruces stage on Saturday morning, rolling six times.
Neuville and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul emerged from the car unaided, but team principal Andrea Adamo confirmed to Autosport that they called for aerial medical support immediately.
Adamo said memories of an accident for Gabriele Tarquini at the end of the 2001 European Touring Car Championship season, when they were both at the JAS Honda programme, that proved much more serious than at first glance had made him cautious about Neuville’s condition.
“You cannot be too careful for this situation,” said Adamo.
“The [medical] checks can never be fast enough. There can be some internal damage, until we check we don’t know and I have some bad experience from Tarquini, who dropped into a coma after an accident [was] totally underestimated.
“But everything is fine for Thierry and Nicolas.”
Neuville was helicoptered to hospital in Concepcion where medics cleared him of any fractures or other injuries.
The car’s rollcage suffered significant damage in the crash, meaning there will be no Sunday return for the current WRC points leaders.
“I cannot be happy for this,” said Adamo. “But I pulled all of the team together and I told them: ‘As long as I am not wrong, there are still many rallies. As long as I am not wrong, we have seen the job we have done so far has paid back.
“‘We don’t have to lower our arm and say it’s finished… fucking hell it’s early May! I saw worse than this when I was in Lancia’.”
Neuville’s departure means Hyundai’s current manufacturer point scorers sit in fourth and eighth place with Sebastien Loeb and Andreas Mikkelsen.