Jari-Matti Latvala will start the decisive Sunday morning at the Portuguese Rally under heavy pressure from Volkswagen team-mate and current world champion Sebastien Ogier, who today scored a string of victories in the speed trials.
Ogier won all three Saturday afternoon trials after the tracks were cleared of rocks, causing him to lose time on the first run.
He started Saturday only as sixth, a tenth less than 26 seconds behind leader Latvalo, and the morning attacks were unsuccessful. But in the afternoon, everything turned in favor of the Frenchman, who managed to overtake Kris Meek and second team rival Andreas Mikkelsen in third and fourth place.
Latvala regretted the cautious approach with which he wanted to keep the tires, especially on the long last test, which already showed that the Finn would increase the advantage, and then he reached the finish line with five seconds worse time than Ogier.
He will start tomorrow's three trials with 9 and a half seconds behind Latvala, and another set of soft tires will help him.
Meeke chased Latvala with Citroen in the morning and lost contact with Volkswagen racers in the afternoon. He had to give up second place to Ogier, and is now 10 seconds behind him in third place. Just a second behind him, however, is Mikkelsen, who spun when he reached the finish line of the Fridao test.
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