Ott Tanak continues to lead the Rally de Portugal into the final day but will begin leg three under pressure from both his team-mate Kris Meeke and Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville after suffering pr♏oblems on the final stage of the⛄ day.

Having begun the day with a 17secs lead over Jari-Matti Latvala, though Tanak was given breathing room when the Finn was slowed with a damper issue, he saw his erstwhile advantage all but wiped out by his own da🧸mper problems.

It allowed Meeke to move within three🌠 seconds of his Estonian team-mate with Sunday’s five stages to come, while Neuville – who continued his stealthy rise up the order following a slow start on Friday – now also in striking range nine seconds off the top.

Though set to be hampered by a less favourable running position than his key rivals, Citroen’s Sebastien Ogier 𝕴isn’t entirely out of the picture either just 20secs off Tanak in fourth. His team-mate Esapekka Lappi climbed from eighth to a lonely fifth place, setting times in line with the leaders.

Latvala’s misfortune, which drops him to an overnight tenth, offered some relief for M-Sport Ford as they reclaimed two top seven positions following Friday dramas, Teemu Suninen ahead of🅺 Elfyn Evans. Gus Greensmith, however💟, came off the road whilst running comfortably inside the top ten on what is his maiden WRC showing.

IN WRC2,ꦯ erstwhile leader Ole Christian Veiby’s event ended in a fire, allowing Kalle Rovanpera to move into the lead of the class from eightꦐh overall, now a minute clear of Jan Kopecky.