The collision occurred 83km into the special from Chilecito to San Juan in Argentina leaving Marcic with an open left leg fracture, organisers said.

The Peugeot driver "stopped for quite some time to assist Marcic awaiting the arrival of assistance before starting again," organisers added.

Peterhansel can reclaim the lost time as rules state that if a competitor stops to help another for more than three minutes the time will be added later.

Peterhansel was trailing French Peugeot teammate Sebastien Loeb by 1min 38sec in the overall standings at the start of Thursday's stage.