Sébastien Ogier took full advantage of a cruel power steering failure for Ott Tänak in the penultimate Amarante stage to snatch the lead of the 58th Vodafone Rally of Portugal on Saturday.
The eight-time World Champion and his co-driver Vincent Landais will try to defend a lead of 27.6 seconds over Sunday’s remaining six special stages in their Toyota GR Yaris.
Hyundai’s Tänak and his co-driver Martin Järveoja Tänak lost 45.6 seconds after the mid-stage failure and ceded further time in the Lousada stage but managed to hold on to third place behind double World Champion Kalle Rovanperä and his co-driver Jonne Halttunen.
Ogier said: “It’s not the way you want to win any fight. We were both pushing really hard even if he (Ott) was a bit faster. We needed to keep the pressure on. It is not over. Tomorrow is a long day.”
A disappointed Tänak added: “Part of the game, I guess. Very unfortunate. We gave everything from our side. What else can I say?”
The second leg had developed into a frantic duel between Tänak and Ogier. The pair traded times all day with both drivers winning three of the day’s seven stages.
Takamoto Katsuta showed formidable pace at times but gradually lost time on Rovanperä and came under pressure from the defending World Champion Thierry Neuville during the afternoon. Just 1.9 seconds separated the pair after SS16 but the Belgian moved ahead in Amarante and held fourth at the night halt.
Current WRC leader Elfyn Evans had a more favourable road position on Saturday but the Welshman struggled to make headway against his team-mate Sami Pajari and finished the day in seventh place behind the impressive young Finn.
Josh McErlean was the best of the four M-Sport Ford Puma drivers. He managed to get the better of team-mate Grégoire Munster throughout the day to hold eighth. Munster struggled to find his optimum car set-up during the morning and settled into ninth.
Tenth-placed Oliver Solberg spent most of the day conserving soft compound tyres for a push on Sunday and running hard compound tyres on his Printsport Toyota GR Yaris. The Swede managed the strategy well, however, and completed the day 50.1 seconds ahead of Gus Greensmith (Škoda Fabia RS) in WRC2.
Yohan Rossel (Citroën C3) held a close third and Finn Roope Korhonen Toyota Yaris) was fourth and led the FIA WRC2 Challenger section. Nikolay Gryazin was not registered for WRC2 points in Portugal but held second among the Rally2 entrants until he slid off the track in SS16.
Australia’s Taylor Gill continued to get the better of Swede Mille Johansson and Turk Kerem Kazaz in the FIA Junior WRC category. Gill also led the WRC3 category after SS17. Portugal’s Pedro Meireles continued to hold the advantage in the FIA WRC Master Cup for Drivers section.
Sunday’s itinerary includes two passes through three shorter specials - Paredes (16.09km), Felgueiras (8.81km) and Fafe (11.18km) - and culminates with the second run through Fafe and its legendary Pedra Sentada jump to the finish.
The final timed test acts as the traditional Wolf Power Stage with rain potentially forecast in the area in the afternoon.
58th Vodafone Rally of Portugal – positions after SS18 (unofficial @ 20.00hrs):
1. Sébastien Ogier (FRA)/Vincent Landais (FRA) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 3hr 01min 04.7sec
2. Kalle Rovanperä (FIN)/Jonne Halttunen (FIN) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 3hr 01min 32.3sec
3. Ott Tänak (EST)/Martin Järveoja (EST) Hyundai i20 N Rally1 3hr 01min 40.8sec
4. Thierry Neuville (BEL)/Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL) Hyundai i20 N Rally1 3hr 01min 49.3sec
5. Takamoto Katsuta (JPN)/Aaron Johnston (IRL) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 3hr 01min 51.5sec
6. Sami Pajari (FIN)/Marko Salminen (FIN) Toyota GR Yaris Rally 3hr 03min 03.1sec
7. Elfyn Evans (GBR)/Scott Martin (GBR) Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 3hr 03min 20.6sec
8. Joshua McErlean (IRL)/Eoin Treacy (IRL) Ford Puma Rally1 3hr 05min 17.9sec
9. Grégoire Munster (LUX)/Louis Louka (BEL) Ford Puma Rally1 3hr 05min 46.4sec
10. Oliver Solberg (SWE)/Elliott Edmondson (GBR) Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 3hr 08min 12.2sec
11. Gus Greensmith (GBR)/Jonas Andersson (SWE) Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 3hr 09min 02.3sec
12. Yohan Rossel (FRA)/Arnaud Dunand (FRA) Citroën C3 Rally2 3hr 09min 07.8sec
Rally leaders
SS1 Elfyn Evans
SS2-16 Ott Tänak
SS18 Sébastien Ogier
Stage winners
SS1 Elfyn Evans
SS2 Ott Tänak
SS3 Ott Tänak
SS4 Adrien Fourmaux
SS5 Adrien Fourmaux
SS6 Sébastien Ogier
SS7 Takamoto Katsuta
SS8 Thierry Neuville
SS9 Ott Tänak
SS10 Sébastien Ogier
SS11 Ott Tänak
SS12 Sébastien Ogier
SS13 Sébastien Ogier
SS14 Ott Tänak
SS15 Ott Tänak
SS16 Ott Tänak
SS17 Kalle Rovanperä
SS18 Sébastien Ogier