WRC Portugal: VW's Sebastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala pull away
Sebastien Ogier is stretching away from team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala in a Volkswagen one-two halfway through day two in Portugal
With Dani Sordo having damaged his Citroen while chasing Ogier, and Mads Ostberg having rolled his M-Sport Ford while holding the VW off on Friday, the World Rally Championship leader is successfully seeing his rivals off.
Ogier's main battle is with his health, as his lingering illness is leaving him struggling for energy on the stages.
Latvala, up to second after Sordo's exit, managed to trim a little from Ogier's lead on Saturday's first two stages, before the Frenchman went quickest on Loule to give himself a 14-second cushion.
Mikko Hirvonen's Citroen is now 13s behind Ogier, with the Finn convinced the VWs are too quick.
M-Sport Ford drivers Evgeny Novikov and Nasser Al-Attiyah complete the top five. Their team-mate Thierry Neuville hit a rock and retired on the opening stage of the day.
After his Friday power steering problem, Andreas Mikkelsen is making good progress in the third VW.
He is now back up to eighth, with the next two cars firmly within sight for Saturday afternoon.
Dominant WRC2 leader Esapekki Lappi is now up into the top 10 overall.
Robert Kubica is having to change gear manually with his damaged right arm as the specially-developed paddleshift system on his Citroen RRC has malfunctioned.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Ogier VW 1h43m25.8s 2. Jari-Matti Latvala VW + 14.1s 3. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 37.2s 4. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford + 2m51.6s 5. Nasser Al-Attiyah M-Sport Ford + 4m36.7s 6. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 5m24.9s 7. Michal Kosciuszko Italia Mini + 5m33.7s 8. Andreas Mikkelsen VW + 5m36.8s 9. Dennis Kuipers M-Sport Ford + 5m44.5s 10. Esapekka Lappi Skoda + 6m58.1s
WRC Portugal: Robert Kubica pleased with pace before retirement
Portugal WRC: Robert Kubica to tread carefully after gear problem
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