SS13: Tough end of day for Hyundai, Ogier increases lead

Sébastien Ogier tops the Rally de Portugal leaderboard after day 3 with a 38.1sec advantage over Mikko Hirvonen. Mads Østberg is third after Ott Tänak crashed.

Broken suspension on Thierry Neuville’s Hyundai i20 cost the Belgian almost 3min 30sec in today’s final stage, the 22.15km Malhao (SS13).

Neuville broke a suspension link after hitting the rear left in the previous Santana da Serra test and had to nurse his car home. He stopped mid-stage to allow team-mate Dani Sordo to pass and dropped two places to seventh overall.

Team-mate Juho Hänninen dropped time towards the end of the stage with what he believed was a broken driveshaft on his i20. Having just regained eighth from Martin Prokop, the Finn is now back to ninth.

Henning Solberg reported issues with the handbrake on his Ford Fiesta RS, but the Norwegian still climbed to fifth after Neuville’s problems.