Finnish driver Mikko Hirvonen went top of the world championship standings on Sunday after winning the Rally of Portugal.

The Citroen driver, runner-up in the world championship last year, recorded his 15th career victory as he beat Sweden’s Mads Ostberg in his Ford Fiesta by almost two minutes while another Fiesta pilot Evgeny Novikov of Russia was third.

Hirvonen’s victory – his first since the Rally of Australia last September – gives him a nine point lead over team-mate and eight-time world champion Loeb, who went out of the race on Thursday.