Jari-Matti Latvala clung onto the lead of Rally Portugal as a determined charge from team-mate Sebastien Ogier set up a tense finale.
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Despite enduring the worst road conditions of the frontrunners, Ogier roared up the leaderboard from sixth to second.
He won all three afternoon speed tests to cut yesterday’s 25.9sec deficit to his Volkswagen Polo R team-mate to 9.5sec.
Ahead of the last test, Latvala was confident his hard compound Michelins would give him an advantage over Ogier’s three hard and one soft tyres.
But the Finn conceded almost five seconds to give Ogier a chance of victory through today’s final three tests.
This is the gap between us & our team mates! But tomorrow, will fight hard to stay in front! #BattleOn #ThisIsRally pic.twitter.com/8lVSxFyUyt
— Miikka Anttila (@MiikkaAnttila) May 23, 2015
“The tyres started to fade near the end. Maybe I attacked too much in the asphalt section. I’m a bit disappointed but at least we’re still ahead. Ogier is coming very strongly. In these situations he is fired up. This is like fuel for him,” said Latvala.
Ogier said: “We took some risk with tyre choice. It wasn’t so bad but it was on the limit. I’ll keep pushing flat out.”
Kris Meeke won two stages in the morning to close to within 6.1sec of the lead in Citroen’s DS 3.
But the Northern Irishman slipped back to finish 10.5sec behind Ogier and 1.1sec ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen in fourth.
Mikkelsen won the opening stage to briefly hold second but the Norwegian ended 21.1sec off the lead.
Ott Tanak fell away from the podium battle but was untroubled in fifth in his Ford Fiesta RS, ahead of an intriguing three-car fight for sixth.
Hayden Paddon had control heading into the last stage but a broken gearbox allowed Hyundai team-mate Dani Sordo in front by 5.6sec.
Citroen’s Mads Ostberg could not capitalise as a broken sensor deprived him of turbo boost and he was 4.0sec behind.
#RallyPortugal SS13 1 Ogier 2 Latvala +4.9 3 Mikkelsen +7.1 4 Meeke +14.2 5 Tanak +14.6 6 DaniSordo +28.7 7 Paddon +35.4 8 Ostberg +34.9
— Dani Sordo (@DaniSordo) May 23, 2015
Robert Kubica and Martin Prokop completed the leaderboard in ninth and 10th respectively.
Thierry Neuville and Lorenzo Bertelli both rolled while Elfyn Evans broke the front right suspension on his Fiesta RS.
Today will feature three stages covering 54.65km and includes two passes through the Fafe stage, one of the WRC’s iconic locations.
The second run will form the live TV Power Stage with bonus points for the fastest three drivers.
