Citroen's world champion Sebastien Loeb crashed out of the season-ending Rally of Australia today when he hit a tree while leading late on the first day.
The Frenchman and co-driver Daniel Elena were not injured in the accident but were forced to retire after wrecking their car before the end of the ninth stage.
Their retirement left Subaru's former champion Petter Solberg 46.6 seconds clear of Citroen's Belgian Francois Duval at the end of the first leg. Scotland's Colin McRae, returning for Skoda, was third and 1.4 seconds further back.
"Things are working according to the plan," said the Norwegian leader. "I think Sebastien was on a big charge. He seemed to have the right tyres, but he went off."
Loeb has won a record 10 rallies this year and has barely made a mistake on his way to a second successive title, with his one previous retirement in Sweden in February caused by engine problems.
Citroen have already clinched the manufacturers' title for the third year in a row but had hoped to become the first team to win 11 times in a season.
Sweden's Daniel Carlsson also escaped serious injury after a fiery crash on the third stage outside Perth.
Carlsson and his co-driver Mattias Anderson were airlifted to hospital after their Peugeot burst into flames after they also slid off the road and slammed into a tree.
Twice world champion Marcus Gronholm made an early exit on three wheels when the Finn damaged the suspension on his Peugeot, ruining his chances of finishing second in the championship.
Police stopped Gronholm on the road after stage seven and barred him from continuing on safety grounds as he tried to limp back to the service area.
Australia was Peugeot's last rally before the French manufacturer withdraws from the championship. Gronholm, three times a winner in Australia, is moving to Ford in 2006.
Australian Chris Atkinson, Solberg's team mate, took his third stage win of the event with the fastest time in the penultimate run of the day.
Atkinson had led after winning the day's first two stages but fell back when a steering problem cost him half a minute on stage six and nearly two minutes on stage seven.
