WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Eight-time world rally champion Sébastien Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais had been hospitalized after a crash in Poland on Tuesday whereas getting ready for this week’s race.

Ogier’s Toyota Gazoo Racing crew stated in an announcement the French crew was “concerned in a street accident throughout reconnaissance for Rally Poland and have been taken for medical checks.”

A police spokesman in Olsztyn, Tomasz Markowski, stated a Toyota and Ford vehicles had been concerned close to the northeast village of Wlosty, and 4 individuals had been taken to hospital. The drivers had been airlifted to hospital and the passengers had been taken by ambulances, Markowski added.

Native police spokeswoman Marta Domańska stated the crash occurred on a slim, one-lane grime street which was not closed to site visitors. Within the Ford had been a 69-year-old man and a 67-year-old girl. She stated no official rally route exams had been going down there on the time.

TV footage confirmed an ambulance helicopter in a subject and police and firefighters on the web site, and pictures posted by Olsztyn police confirmed a white Toyota and a darkish Ford with their fronts broken.

The four-day Rally Poland is because of begin on Thursday in a rural space not removed from the border with Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave.

The 40-year-old Ogier is among the biggest rally drivers in historical past. He gained six straight world titles from 2013-18. His most up-to-date was in 2021.

Ogier has gained 60 rally races, second all-time to countryman Sebastien Loeb with 80.

Driving part-time on this planet rally championship this 12 months, he gained the Croatia Rally in April and the Portugal Rally in Could. Poland is internet hosting its first WRC occasion in seven years, and Ogier has gained right here twice.

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This story corrects the identify of the town to Olsztyn, not Olsztym.

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