WARSAW, Poland — Eight-time world rally champion Sébastien Ogier will remain hospitalized overnight after he was involved in a crash in Poland on Tuesday while preparing for this week's race, though his team said he was not seriously injured.
The 40-year-old Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais were withdrawn from the Poland Rally, the Toyota Gazoo racing team said in a statement. Landais was released from the hospital.
''All involved have underdone scans which showed no serious injuries,'' the team said. ''While Landais has been discharged, Ogier will remain under medical observation overnight and will not be able to participate in the event.''
It later said drivers Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen will step in for Ogier and Landais for the race.
The four-day rally starts Thursday in northeastern Poland, in a rural area not far from the border with Russia's Kaliningrad exclave.
The team said GPS tracking shows the speed of Ogier's car at the time of the head-on crash was ''within the limits set.''
Earlier, a police spokesman in Olsztyn, Tomasz Markowski, said Toyota and Ford cars were involved near the northeast village of Wlosty, and four people were taken to the hospital. The drivers were airlifted and the passengers were taken by ambulances, Markowski added.
Local police spokeswoman Marta Domańska said the crash occurred on raised terrain on a narrow, one-lane dirt road which was not closed to traffic. In the Ford were a 69-year-old man and a 67-year-old woman. All complained of back pain after the crash, she said.
