Kubica: SS11 crash due to pace-note misunderstanding

Former F1 racer Robert Kubica has confirmed that a pace-note misunderstanding was the reason for his off on day three of Wales Rally GB.

Kubica, who was getting his first run in a current generation WRC car on the final round in the 2013 World Rally Championship - a reward for winning the WRC2 title, re-started on Saturday under the Rally 2 regulations after he rolled it in SS4 on Friday.

The Pole began by going eighth quickest in SS10 this morning, before he again went off. Citroen team-mate, Dani Sordo reported it looked like a 'big one', when asked about the crash at the end of the SS11, but fortunately, Kubica and new co-driver, Michele Ferrara were both okay.

"We hit big rock but I think we just had a misunderstanding in the pace notes," Kubica said in an interview with the official WRC site, wrc.com. "In a place where I should be braking I was still flat, and by the time I saw the corner it was too late.

"I tried to recover, but the speed difference was too big. We had a sort of blackout in communication."

It has now been confirmed by Citroen that the damage sustained is enough to mean the former F1 racer will not re-join on Sunday.

"This rally was difficult for me because I haven't done very many kilometres [with the Citroen DS3 WRC] and I had to change co-driver. It wasn't easy for me, or for my co-driver, and we didn't have the best luck here - but that's part of the game," he continued philosophically.

"Yesterday I had a mistake on the mud, we just slipped off the road, and today we had, yeah, a kind of blackout in communication.

"It's quite disappointing, we came here to gain experience, and we just end up twice in the ditch."