Justin Dale's big break in the World Rally Championship ended in dramatic fashion with a huge accident on stage two of the Network Q Rally of Great Britain yesterday.

The Stockbridge-based driver - runner-up in this season's British Rally Championship - was drafted in as Alister McRae's replacement at Mitsubishi as the Scot recovers from a mountain biking accident.

But his chance to impress with a works drive ended in a spectacular accident yesterday morning when he braked too late and rolled his Lancer.

Although the 31-year-old managed to get back to the service area, scrutineers discovered his roll cage was irreparably damaged, forcing his retirement.

Dale said: "It happened about five kilometres in to special stage two. We were going well, but at the end of a long straight into a long left-hander, I couldn't see for the sun and missed my braking point.

"We rolled several times, I think we lost three minutes because of the accident and then a bit of time once we got going again.

"Mechanically it was fine, apart from a holed radiator. On the road section we stopped a couple of times to fill up the radiator from streams.

"It's very frustrating because this was such a big chance for me."

Mitsubishi team boss Andrew Cowan explained there was nothing the mechanics could do to keep Dale on track.

He said: "We had to withdraw Justin. The scrutineers informed us that the roll cage was damaged. You can patch up other stuff, but there's nothing you can do when it's a safety issue."