Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville was the first to come across the stranded zero car which was pulled over to one side of the road midway through the 20.32km Nukata Forest test.
Unaware of the stationary vehicle ahead, Neuville, who rejoined the rally after crashing out of second on stage six yesterday, briefly stopped before passing the car. He soon switched into road mode for the remainder of the stage.
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta also navigated by the Rally Japan official car before organisers threw the red flags.
M-Sport’s Ott Tanak and Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi had already begun the stage when the red flags were shown. The stage restarted after a delay.
Neuville, Katsuta, Lappi and Tanak were awarded notional times after being affected by the incident.
The FIA opened an initial investigation that has deemed the incident was initially triggered by spectators standing in a dangerous location.
Source: Autosport