Volkswagen’s Sebastien Ogier is holding a slim 4.4sec lead over Dani Sordo at the end of a thrilling opening day of Rally de Portugal, the fourth round of the World Rally Championship. Friday’s competition comprised four gravel stages in the Algarve and a spectacular street-based Super Special in the Portuguese capital Lisbon which all ran consecutively without any service breaks.
Ogier took the lead in his Polo R WRC on the first stage and was the only WRC driver to fit a full set of Michelin’s soft-compound tyres that especially suited the cooler, slightly damp early conditions. Things changed on the next stage however, when the temperature started to rise, the surface dried and Mads Ostberg stormed ahead, his Ford Fiesta RS shod with the hard-compound rubber. But Ostberg’s lead proved short-lived and he crashed on the third stage when he misheard a pace note and rolled into retirement.
