Let’s call the whole thing off, says McRae

McRae's Ford Focus is currently running 10th on the road (it had been 11th, prior to the retirement of Armin Schwarz's Skoda), but is 2m28.6s behind rally leader Tommi Makinen's Mitsubishi with just five stages completed.

The first three drivers on the road, Makinen, Harri Rovanpera and Carlos Sainz are also currently the first three drivers overall and McRae, who is seventh overall, says their advantage will only widen on the un-level playing field caused by the stage conditions. Traditionally, a dry Portuguese Rally is one of the closest-fought events on the calendar.

"The more we continue, the more we lose time," said the Scot. "There's no way we'll ever catch up.

"The only fair way to resolve this is to stop the rally, give nobody points and start again in Spain."

The Catalunya Rally, Spain's round of the World Rally Championship and the first true asphalt event on the calendar, begins on March 23.

Today's final stages are said to be at least as slippery as the five already completed (two were also cancelled) and the weather forecast for the remaining two days of the event includes more showers, meaning Saturday and Sunday's stages are unlikely to be any drier than today's.