Leader Petter Solberg was bounced out of the season-ending Rally Australia on Saturday during the second leg of competition when his car slammed into a kangaroo in bushland near Perth.
Solberg, who held a 50.8-second lead over Citroen driver Francois Duval going into the 13th stage, was driving in top gear and at top speed at the time of the crash, which damaged the cooling system of his Subaru Impreza.
Neither Solberg nor co-driver Phil Mills were injured in the accident. The kangaroo was killed.
The Norwegian former world champion was able to drag the car across the stage finish line, but the engine was cooked and he was forced to retire from the race.
Solberg had been gifted a chance to claim outright second place in the World Drivers' Championship when arch-rival Marcus Gronholm was ruled out on Friday after hitting a rock in his Peugeot 307 and damaging his car's suspension.
World champion Sebastien Loeb, driving a Citroen Xsara, was also eliminated on Friday when his car slid off the road and hit a tree, while Peugeot's number two driver Daniel Carlsson's car burst into flames after sliding into bushland. None of the drivers were injured.
With Solberg ruled out, Duval was holding a one-second lead over Scotsman Colin McRae in a Skoda Fabia with Finland's Harri Rovanpera in a Mitsubishi Lancer a further 3.77 seconds behind McRae after 13 stages.
McRae finished the day 23.8 seconds adrift of Duval with the Belgian looking in complete control in his Citroen.
