Rossel violated the traffic regulations while transitioning between stages on Thursday evening, heading towards the final time control.
He illegally overtook a convoy of vehicles while crossing the double white line and crossed a junction ignoring red traffic light. The incident was revealed through video footage presented to Rossel’s team representatives during a hearing. The stewards issued Rossel a €2,000 fine for violating the traffic rules.
Rossel’s engineer, Jeremy Chevallereau, explained during the hearing that Rossel likely thought they were in a hurry to reach the time control. Rossel had damaged his car during the final stage on Thursday, breaking a rear wheel, which forced him and his co-driver, Florian Barral, to make repairs on the side of the road during the road section.
The team representatives apologized for the incident and assured they would remind Rossel to adhere to traffic rules in the future.
Due to his issues on Friday, Rossel lost around half a minute. After five stages, he is a minute behind WRC2 leader Nikolay Gryazin.
Rossel still has a chance to win the WRC2 title, but he must win in Central Europe to overtake Oliver Solberg. Meanwhile, Sami Pajari can secure the WRC2 title by winning the final race in Japan in November.
