Ogier holds Loeb at bay after day two
Sebastien Ogier will take a 21-second lead into the final day of the Rally of Portugal, having matched the chasing Sebastien Loeb's pace on the second afternoon
With Ogier (Citroen Junior) running first on the road today, Loeb (Citroen) had been able to close in. But after slashing the gap between them from 46s to 23s on the morning loop, Loeb could not make the same gains in the afternoon, with Ogier actually extending his lead on one stage.
"We've tried to push all day," Ogier said. "It was more difficult than yesteday but I'm happy. We were first on the road but didn't lose a lot of time.
"I think it's going to be very hard tomorrow, we will try until the end."
Loeb admitted that he was going to find it hard to close a 21s gap with just four full-length stages on Sunday.
"[The gap] is quite a lot. But today was hard and Ogier was running very well," said Loeb.
"He was doing the same stage times and not damaging his tyres. I was too cautious with the tyres on the first stage and lost a bit too much.
"He's doing very well and we are only second on the road tomorrow, so it will not be easy to make the difference."
Dani Sordo struggled to keep his tyres intact this afternoon and fell away from the lead battle, dropping a minute off the pace and ending the loop in fourth behind Petter Solberg. A battle is now brewing for the final podium spot between Solberg, Sordo and Ford's Mikko Hirvonen, the trio covered by 21.7s at the end of the leg.
Having lost touch with those ahead, Kimi Raikkonen is now using the rally as a learning experience and driving steadily in ninth for Citroen Junior.
With nearest rival Nasser Al-Attiyah retiring this morning, Jari Ketomaa now has a clear lead in S2000, while Kevin Abbring moved into the Junior lead when Aaron Burkart went off and damaged his radiator.
Pos Driver Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Ogier Citroen 2h50m48.1s 2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 21.1s 3. Petter Solberg Citroen + 52.2s 4. Dani Sordo Citroen + 1m05.7s 5. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 1m13.9s 6. Henning Solberg Ford + 3m02.8s 7. Matthew Wilson Ford + 4m41.8s 8. Mads Ostberg Subaru + 5m36.7s 9. Kimi Raikkonen Citroen + 7m29.7s 10. Federico Villagra Ford + 7m55.1s = Khalid Al Qassimi Ford + 7m55.1s
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