Russ Thompson suffered his first retirement of the season at the Somerset Stages Rally last Saturday, following a crash at the end of the third stage of 12.
The 27-year-old had just completed the Knowle 1 test when the car slipped on loose gravel after the flying finish boards and slid into a tree.
Over the first two stages, a double run over the Porlock toll road, Thompson was 11 seconds under his time from the same stage in 2014, and he was showing a similar improvement over Knowle before a spin just prior to the finish.
It was however a case of being thankful for small mercies as although the car suffered damage, the tree stopped Thompson and co driver Andy Murphy from rolling down a sizeable embankment and suffering more substantial damage to the car and themselves.