Going into Rally Ireland, Ford's Marcus Gronholm of Finland was leading defending champion Sebastien Loeb. But an error at the fourth stage of the event saw Loeb move closer to the championship ahead of Gronholm who has been leading the drivers' championship standings for the most part of the season.

Gronholm hit a wall on that fateful fourth stage. His side of the car struck the wall resulting to Gronholm loosing consciousness and being rushed to the hospital for precautionary check up. This is a tough break for Gronholm as he is looking forward to retiring at the end of the season as the champion.

Malcolm Wilson, Ford team principal said in an interview: "I know he’ll be totally devastated about what’s happened. They found some very polished tarmac and Marcus didn’t get the braking he expected. He’s gone into the wall and it was all his side of the car that took the impact."

All is not lost though as the last event of the season may give him the championship still. It can be remembered that his compatriot Kimi Raikkonen who drives for Ferrari in Formula One also went into the last race of the season trailing but came out winning the championship. With his superb driving skills and the prowess of his Ford rally car, Gronholm should not be counted out of the championship race.

Time and time again, Gronholm has shown that he is one of the best drivers around and he can show that once again at the next event.

Marcus had this to say about his accident. "The accident happened at a third gear corner at a point in the stage where I changed my pace notes during the race. It's faster there this year because some trees have been cut down. I slid wide and the right rear wheel hit some straw bales. The impact threw the car down a bank into a tree stump. The impact was hard and on my door. The stage was covered with loose gravel and was slippery all through. It will be hard to repair the damage but the team will do everything it can."