Intro:

Thanks to some strong performances on Saturday's early stages, Sebastien Ogier overhauled Mikko Hirvonen at the top of the Rally of Portugal leaderboard.

It came the day after Chris Meeke's Citroen spun off the track on the first loop of the Almodovar stage.

Script:

Drama on Friday at the Rally of Portugal.

Citroen's Kris Meeke, competing in Portugal for the first time, went off, very close to where Elfyn Evans did the same on the first loop of the Almodovar stage.

Onto Saturday, and Mikko Hirvonen's lead evaporated over the course of the morning.

At the end of Friday and a testing Stage 7 - the second lap of Almodovar - the Finn led by 3.7 seconds from Ott Tanak.

Sebastien Ogier just edged Stage 8 by 0.2 seconds from Hirvonen with Tanak third.

Santana de Serra - Stage 9 - proved critical.

Ogier was 8.7 seconds quicker than Hirvonen with Tanak fourth behind Mads Ostberg.

That propelled the defending champion to the top of the leaderboard, 2.4 seconds in front of Hirvonen, with the Estonian Tanak dropping to third.