The Ford number one had won the first two full-length stages of the event and held a four-second lead over Petter Solberg.
According to Autosport.com, on the Urria stage, Hirvonen appears to have landed badly after a jump, struck a bank and rolled his Ford Focus several times, causing massive damage to the car. Both Hirvonen and co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen got out unhurt.
That has put Solberg into the lead, three seconds ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala in the remaining works Ford, but the Norwegian is trying to remain calm.
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