Thierry Neuville was hospitalised following a huge crash during SS8 of Rally Chile, which put an immediate halt to his charge as he looked to move ahead of second-placed Sebastien Ogier on the Saturday.
There were fears the Hyundai driver could have broken a bone, luckily he escaped serious injury in the eight-roll crash, but still required medical attention at the local hospital for a cut to his leg in what he described as one of his biggest crashes.
"I don't know exactly what happened, but it turned maybe a little bit more than expected," said the Belgian once he was discharged.
Related: Watch Neuville's eight-roll crash during Rally Chile
"The impacts were quite hard and there were quite a few of them. I have had other crashes. Maybe this was the biggest."
Explaining what went wrong, he said: "I went a little bit wide, hit the edge and immediately rolled the car. I felt we were going to hit the rear in the wall, but it was quite a deep ditch – you only have a few chances to get away with this.
"I felt some pain in my left leg and saw some blood. I asked for an ambulance to check. The hospital did a good job and it's just a few stitches.
"I'll be back for Portugal. I'm testing already next week. The situation is definitely not the one we wanted but we can look forward to the upcoming events. If we won't be first [on the road] it gives us a better position."
Co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul also escaped unharmed and didn't require any medical attention.
