Citroen’s Mikko Hirvonen maintained his impressive victory charge at the Rally of Portugal on Saturday when he stretched his lead to more than a minute.
The Finn, who was runner-up in the 2011 world championship to Sebastien Loeb, will take a 1min 11sec lead over Norway’s Mads Ostberg into Sunday’s final day and a 1min 41sec advantage on Russia’s Evgeny Novikov.
Norway’s Petter Solberg, driving a factory Ford, won four of the day’s six specials to move into fifth overall.
That marked a remarkable turnaround for Solberg who had been down in 11th place on Friday morning after slipping off the track.