Rally Finland WRC: Meeke retires from third after hitting rock

Meeke was second overnight, and was running third - just 0.6 seconds off the lead - after winning the morning's second stage.

He had been matching the split times of new rally leader and Toyota team-mate Ott Tanak when he clipped an errant rock on a fifth-gear right-hand corner five miles into the penultimate stage of the loop on Kakaristo.

Toyota confirmed Meeke would not take any further part in the afternoon running, but that it did plan to restart on Sunday.

Team boss Tommi Makinen said he had told his drivers pre-event to take "control" of the rally and that there had been "no need" to push as hard as they were.

"Of course we are all very disappointed. We understood that he was in fifth gear and slid off onto the big rock and broke the rear suspension," Makinen said.

"It was still a long way to go and they had good speed, and they could really control the game still.

"Before the rally we spoke about the strategy and to just keep going and keep controlling the rally and it was really looking good, there was no reason to push that much.

"But I totally understand, rallying is hard. You can make a mistake but well, that's the result now."

Stage 14 was a difficult one for Toyota as Meeke's team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala - the overnight rally leader - also hit a rock, which left him with a left-rear puncture.

The Finn managed to bring the car to the finish, albeit with significant wheel arch and bodywork damage to his Yaris.

Latvala is now in second place overall, but 13.9s behind Tanak.