Stage should have been run

World Rally Championship boss David Richards questioned the decision by the Rally of Britain organisers to cancel a stage of the event for the first time in its 58-year history because of crowd congestion on Friday.

The second running of the 23.12 kilometre 'Brechfa' test was cancelled because of congestion caused by "the pressure of spectators on the stage", organisers said. But Richards, whose company International Sportsworld Communicators (ISC) own the commercial rights to the sport, said he was puzzled by the organisers's decision.

"The whole event has run really well so far so I can't understand it," Richards said. "I flew over that stage in my helicopter and there was nobody there. We need to get to the bottom of it."

Leading drivers, who completed the stage as a road section, saw nothing to force organisers to cancel the test.

The Motor Sport Association (MSA), which runs the rally, warned before the event that stages would be cancelled if excessive numbers of spectators lined the roads in the Welsh forests.

They had been confident new measures put in place would ensure the rally ran without hitches and had warned the public to heed the advice. But organisers said that more cancellations would be made if rally officials deemed that spectators were at risk.

An event spokesperson said: "The FIA's safety delegate went through the stage beforehand and recommended to the clerk of the course to cancel the stage because of spectator pressure. We will have no hesitation in doing the same again if we believe spectator safety is being compromised."