After the eventful day 1 of the 2012 rally of Portugal with 4 nights stages on day 1 and a super special stage, Jari Matti Latvala leads his teammate Petter Solberg by 2.6 seconds and 3rd place Mikko Hirvonen by 5 seconds. Eight time world champion Sebastian Loeb crashed out on SS3 when he misunderstood a pace note – damaging his Citroen’s rollcage and forcing him to retire from the whole event. Loeb was not the fastest on the rode but was managing to stay within the battle ahead of the crash. In 4th place we find Estonian phenomenon Ott Tanak who continues his good form that started at the beginning of the season. Thierry Neuville is 5th, a place that demonstrates his best WRC start this season and hi promising start is showing why Citroen signed him for full program. Mads Ostberg, Evgeny Novikov, Jari Ketomaa, Hayden Paddon and Dennis Kuipers continue the top 10. Nasser Al Attiyah sits in the 12th place after a difficult start.
Leading positions after SS4: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford 25m04.6s 2. Petter Solberg Ford + 2.6s 3. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 5.0s 4. Ott Tanak M-Sport Ford + 15.7s 5. Thierry Neuville Citroen Junior + 34.0s 6. Mads Ostberg Adapta Ford + 53.3s 7. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford + 1m02.9s 8. Jari Ketomaa Autotek Ford + 1m15.0s 9. Hayden Paddon ASM Skoda + 1m39.6s 10. Dennis Kuipers M-Sport Ford + 1m47.1s