Sébastien Ogier keeps the advantage

Sébastien Ogier, very impressive this Saturday, managed to maintain the lead of the Rally of Portugal, despite a difficult opening position. He maintains a good lead before Sunday's special stages.

Published on 29/05/2010 à 18:27

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Sébastien Ogier (Citroen C4 WRC) is he on the eve of his first WRC success? If he wins on Sunday, the Citroën Junior Team driver will be able to congratulate himself on having played his role perfectly this Saturday. Yesterday, taking advantage of his position on the road, the Frenchman built a large lead of 45 seconds over his pursuers.

This Saturday, the Frenchman initially suffered, losing half of his lead over Sébastien Loeb (Citroën C4 WRC) in the three stages of the morning. In the afternoon, the Gapençais showed himself to be much more resilient, losing only two seconds to his compatriot. “ If it continues like this, we will never be able to catch up with him », Confided Loeb at the end of SS12.

Before the five special stages (including a 2 km super special) on Sunday, the six-time World Champion finds himself 21 seconds behind the leader. “ It's a lot but Ogier drove very well. It drives very well while managing to protect its tires. I wanted to preserve them too much and I wasted time. Tomorrow we will be second on the road so it will be difficult to make the difference. »

For his part, Sébastien Ogier, if he doesn't make any mistakes, could well fly to his first WRC victory. This Saturday, he did everything to put himself in the best possible mood. “ We attacked all day, confides Ogier. We are still in the lead and, despite our position on the road, we have not lost too much time. But it will still be difficult tomorrow. »

Behind, the other drivers are offside for victory but there remains a little doubt concerning the podium. At the end of SS13, Petter Solberg (Citroën C4 WRC) occupies third place, with 52?? behind Ogier. Dani Sordo (Citroën C4 WRC) slipped to fourth and has 13?? behind Solberg.

Fifth, Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Focus WRC) is eight seconds behind the Spaniard and can still aim for fourth place, even if the Finn alternates between good and bad. He is, moreover, Ford's last hope to deprive Citroën of points since Jari-Matti Latvala retired following a mistake on SS9.