Volkswagen Motorsport has dominated the second day of Rally de Portugal, Sébastien Ogier maintaining his lead with team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala moving up into second position. Between them they have won each of the day’s stages and sit comfortably ahead of third-placed Mikko Hirvonen.

 

The second day of Rally de Portugal was the longest of the event covering two identical loops of three stages and 158.54 competitive kilometres. The opening stage provided the drama of the day and saw what was set to be a massive battle between Ogier and Sordo disappear within kilometres as the Spaniard was forced onto the side lines when we went off and damaged the right-rear corner of the Citroën DS3 WRC. Thierry Neuville hit a rock and fifth position - along with the rest of his day - vanished with broken suspension.

 

At the head of the leaderboard Ogier now has 34.8 seconds in hand to Latvala, who immediately moved into second position following Sordo’s retirement on stage six. Latvala won both of the day’s opening stages with what appears to be a much greater return to form, and Ogier claimed victory in each of the following four stages. Hirvonen has had an uneventful day and the Finn holds a comfortable third ahead of Evgeny Novikov. Nasser Al-Attiyah has moved one position up the leaderboard, into fifth, and Andreas Mikkelsen, driving Volkswagen’s third Polo R WRC, has moved from 14th to sixth. Martin Prokop and Michal Kosciuszko both suffered with problems this afternoon; Prokop with a broken driveshaft and Kosciuszko with electrical problems.

 

The final day of Rally de Portugal takes in two loops of two stages but includes the 52.30 kilometre Almodovar stage, which also concludes the rally as the Power Stage.

 

Rally de Portugal – Unofficial Results after Day 2