Juho Hanninen moved back into the Intercontinental Rally Challenge points lead by winning Rally Azores.
The reigning champion was kept on his toes by fellow Skoda driver Andreas Mikkelsen, as the Norwegian produced his strongest performance of the season to nose ahead of Hanninen on a couple of occasions.
The battle went on until SS14, when a blistering stage win for Hanninen in tricky conditions took him out of reach, after which Mikkelsen backed right off to settle for second.
Jan Kopecky completed an all-Skoda podium in third.
Bryan Bouffier was top Peugeot in fourth, having lost time running first on the road and due to his lack of experience on the stages. Guy Wilks crashed the Peugeot UK entry on Friday morning, while Bruno Magalhaes (Peugeot Portugal) was fending off Kopecky for third until a transmission problem stopped him earlier this afternoon.
But in the fog of stage 14, Hanninen threw caution to the wind to regain the lead with a blistering drive.
Mikkelsen won the Grupo Marques superspecial to narrow the Finn’s margin to 10.9s with two stages remaining when a decision was made for both drivers to hold station to ensure a dominant finish for the Czech manufacturer, which now heads Peugeot in the makes’ standings by 48 points.
Result:
1. Juho Hanninen (FIN)/Mikko Markkula (FIN) SKODA Fabia S2000 1h07m45.8s
2. Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR)/Ola Fløene (NOR) SKODA Fabia S2000 +42.3s
3. Jan Kopecky (CZE)/Petr Stary (CZE) SKODA Fabia S2000 +1m46.0s
4. Bryan Bouffier (FRA)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Peugeot 207 S2000 +3m36.2s
5. Patrik Sandell (SWE)/Staffan Parmander (SWE) SKODA Fabia S2000 +4m33.3s
6. Ricardo Moura (POR)/Sandro Eiro (POR) Ralliart Lancer Evolution IX +6m07.0s
7. Vitor Lopes (POR)/Hugo Magalhaes (POR) Subaru Impreza STI WRX +9m52.1s
8. Vitor Pascoal (POR)/Luis Ramalho (POR) Ralliart Lancer Evolution X +12m47.3s
9. Sergio Silva (POR)/Nelson Cordeiro (POR) Subaru Impreza STI WRX +14m00.3s
10. Fumio Nutahara (JPN)/Hakaru Ichino (JPN) Subaru Impreza R4 +18m10.8s