Ogier pulls away at end of day one

Sebastien Ogier has charged into a comfortable lead at the end of day one in Portugal.

Five wins from the six stages run today have given the Citroen Junior driver a 26.6-second advantage over second-placed Dani Sordo (Citroen), and a 44s cushion back to championship leader Sebastien Loeb, who holds third in the second works Citroen.

Ogier had taken the lead from Sordo this morning, then shook off the Spaniard and pulled away with a dominant performance on the afternoon loop. He must now run first on the road on Saturday, but will do so with a healthy lead.

"It was a good day - we tried to push hard all day and the car was perfect," said Ogier.

"Now let's see what happens tomorrow. It's going to be difficult being first on the road, but that's how it is."

Sordo had stayed within 8s of Ogier until a braking issue going into a hairpin on today's final stage, Silves, cost him a lot of time.

"I braked and the car continued to push. I had really good luck, because I went off a little bit," Sordo explained. "I don't know what happened. But I've arrived at the end, so I am happy."

Loeb, Ford's top driver Mikko Hirvonen and Solberg Citroen's Petter Solberg are covered by just 5.1s in third to fifth places. The title rivals struggled with their positions on the running order today, with Ogier enjoying better stage conditions as the cars ahead cleared the dust from the surface. Solberg also lost time with a puncture on the last stage.

Jari-Matti Latvala remains a quiet sixth on his return to the rally where he suffered a horrifying accident in 2009, and is now just over a minute away from the lead.

Stobart Ford's Henning Solberg still has Latvala in sight despite various steering problems today. His team-mate Matthew Wilson is eighth, with returnee Mads Ostberg (Adapta Subaru) an unhappy ninth and struggling with understeer and high tyre wear.

Kimi Raikkonen continues to hold 10th for Citroen Junior, and had mixed feelings about his first full day in Portugal.

"For sure the second pass, once I've gone once through the stages, is much easier, so it improves a bit," he said.

"But the morning was very difficult. The pace notes were too slow and the grip was more than I expected. But we have to learn this rally."

Nasser Al-Attiyah led the S2000 class into the day's final stage, but lost his power steering and fell to second behind Jari Ketomaa. P-G Andersson is frustrated with his pace in third, ahead of championship leader Xevi Pons - who was delayed by a puncture earlier.

Intercontinental Rally Challenge leader Juho Hanninen is actually the highest-placed S2000 runner in the outright order, 7s ahead of Ketomaa, but is not registered for the class.

The last stage of the day also saw a change in the Junior lead, as newcomer Thierry Neuville crashed and handed the advantage to Aaron Burkart.

Pos  Driver              Car        Time/Gap
 1.  Sebastien Ogier     Citroen  1h20m34.4s
 2.  Dani Sordo          Citroen     + 26.6s
 3.  Sebastien Loeb      Citroen     + 44.8s
 4.  Mikko Hirvonen      Ford        + 46.9s
 5.  Petter Solberg      Citroen     + 49.9s
 6.  Jari-Matti Latvala  Ford      + 1m02.8s
 7.  Henning Solberg     Ford      + 1m20.7s
 8.  Matthew Wilson      Ford      + 1m54.6s
 9.  Mads Ostberg        Subaru    + 2m37.3s
10.  Kimi Raikkonen      Citroen   + 3m18.1s

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