Midday wrap: Ogier shines brightest in the Algarve

Citroen Total World Rally Team driver Sebastien Ogier has completed the opening three stages of Vodafone Rally de Portugal with a slender lead over team-mate Sebastien Loeb.

Ogier moved in front with a charging run through stage four, the 21.31-kilometre Felizes test, and heads Loeb by 2.8s as he looks to make it two wins in succession on the challenging sun-baked Algarve roads.

But with six seconds covering the top four drivers, the battle for supremacy is expected to rage until the finish of the rally in Faro on Sunday afternoon.

“I’m happy at the moment, everything is perfect,” said the 27-year-old from France. “We started quite slowly, it took some time to wake up but now it’s okay. But the rally is very long.”

Loeb reported a bout of understeer on Friday’s first test but said changes to the suspension settings of his Citroen DS3 WRC had improved his pace. “It’s a more even fight because there is not so much road cleaning,” said Loeb.

World championship pacesetter Mikko Hirvonen, who was fastest on Thursday afternoon’s superspecial stage in Lisbon, maintained his overnight advantage after three stages but slipped back to third following the completion of stage four.

“I was surprised with my time on the first stage - it was good and it has been a good morning,” said the Ford Fiesta RS WRC ace who is 2.7s ahead of his fourth-placed team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala.

Petter Solberg was fastest on stage two but suffered a front-right puncture on the next run, which cost the Citroen privateer more than a minute. As a result of his delay, the Norwegian is 55.8s off the lead in fifth place after four stages.

Matthew Wilson completes the top six in his M-Stobart Fiesta, despite reporting a possible misfire on stage four. A suspected misfire has also plagued his team-mate Henning Solberg, who is seventh overall in his multi-coloured Fiesta.

Ex-Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen is eighth but says he is struggling to adapt to driving on gravel in his DS3 WRC, which he is doing for the first time after skipping the last round in Mexico.

Armindo Araujo is an impressive ninth overall in his MINI John Cooper Works Super 2000, which is making its competition debut in Portugal. The local hero says he is taking no risks as he looks to build his experience of driving the Prodrive-built machine.

Bernardo Sousa completes the top 10 on his debut in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC after recovering from a small off on the morning’s first stage. Federico Villagra and Khalid Al Qassimi also suffered off-road moments on the opening stage and hold 11th and 12th respectively heading to service.

Mads Ostberg was one of the pre-event favourites but retired on stage two with a broken gearbox.

Hayden Paddon heads the Production Car World Rally Championships on his debut in a Subaru Impreza. Title rival Patrik Flodin’s hopes were scuppered when he rolled on stage three and lost approximately eight minutes.

After three stages Jose Suarez from Spain is leading the new-for-2011 FIA WRC Academy for identical Ford Fiesta R2s.