The Spaniard – whoꦡ was running eighth on the road on his return to the Land of the Rising Sun – was forced to bring his I20 N Rally1 supermini to a 🌞sudden stop 10-miles into the ‘Isegami’s Tunnel’ test when smoke started billowing from the rear.

Sordo managed to escape the caꩲr uninjured with co-driver Candido Carrera before he attempted ♚to douse the flames with a handheld extinguisher.

When he arrived at the scene of the incident, the images captured by the in-car camera on Gus Greensmith’s Ford Puma Rally1 confirmed the fire was well ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚestablished and suggested Sordo’s Hyundai was beyond saving.

A short time later, organisers confirmed the test had been cancelled on safety grounds for the remaining crews,♛ with the delays caused by the fire also leading to SS3 𒁃being scrubbed from the itinerary.

“The crew is okay and that is the main thing,”൩ said Hyundai Motorsport’s Deputy Team Director, Julien Moncet. “It is a sight that nobody wants to see – a huge drama, huge disappointment.

“At the moment, we have no further information other than what we have seen from the videos. Unfortunately, I think it will be difficult to find out the real cause of this because I think there will be not🎶hing left of the car.”

Based on the footage Moncet and his team watched back at the service park, the initial feeling ꧒is it could have been caused by the exha🐻ust.

“The right rear is the side of the exhaust – that is the only thing we can think about, but it could be man🏅y reasons and maybe something completely different,” added the Frenchman.

“We will ♉try to analyse what is leඣft and figure it out but I am not sure we will find something.”

Sordo explained the first indication that he knew something was not right was when the cockpit began to f🐬ill with petrol fumes. “It was coming really quickly since the beginning of the stage,” explained the WRC veteran.

“The c꧟ar was smelling of petrol a lot and just here in a straight line the ▨fire was coming between the seats with a lot of smoke, so I stopped the car.

“After a few minutes it started to burn. I🌺t was coming from the rear and we tried to put it out but it was absolutely impossible. I'm sorry for the team – ꦍto lose a car like this, it's a bad day.”