Ogier will not restart in Germany

The reigning World Rally champion crashed heavily on leg two's second stage, having already retired from Friday when he went off the road on SS6.

Ogier and his co-driver Julien Ingrassia were hospitalised after the accident, but were released following precautionary tests.

Volkswagen's technical chief Francois-Xavier Demaison told AUTOSPORT: "The seat tubes are bent. I think it was some impact on the floor, it must be when they cut across the Armco post.

"Both tubes [drivers' and co-drivers'] are bent; maybe if it was just one maybe we could fix it, but doing two in three hours is not possible."

Ogier described his Polo's landing in the incident as "pretty brutal".

"The accident happened about a kilometre into the eighth stage," he said.

"We were in sixth gear on a long straight. Then there was a slight right turn over a crest. The jump [over a bump in the middle of the corner] was a bit further than we thought. The rear broke away when we landed and I lost control of the car.

"We smashed into the crash barrier and came to a stop on a slope with small-ish trees.

"The most important thing at that point was that Julien and I realised we were both OK.

"They took us to hospital for routine tests but we both walked away without injury.

"The Polo R WRC suffered a bit more because unfortunately the jump was pretty brutal."

If Jari-Matti Latvala stays out front in the rally and wins the Powerstage, he can cut VW team-mate Ogier's lead in the championship to just 16 points with four rallies and a potential 112 points on offer.