Sebastien Ogier increased his lead on the Rally of Portugal to over 38 seconds after a strong run through the second loop of stages on Saturday afternoon.
He began the day’s final tests with a slender 2.4-second advantage over Mikko Hirvonen, who received a notional time for the stage prior to the interval, which was neutralised after M-Sport team-mate Ott Tanak caused a road block.
Ogier won again after the interval – giving the Volkswagen Polo R WRC its 200th stage win since its debut on the 2013 Monte Carlo Rally – before going on to complete a hat-trick of stage victories, while rally rival Hirvonen suffered tyre issues.
World Rally Championship leader Ogier put Volkwsagen back at the top of the leaderboard after setting the pace on two of the three stages on the day’s opening loop.
Overall standings after SS13:
