Sébastien Ogier leads Volkswagen team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala by four-tenths of a second after the morning stages on the second day of Rally de Portugal.
Ogier moved ahead in his Polo R in the Almodôvar stage, the last of the morning loop. But the fight at the front was so tight that just 9.0sec covered the top six.
Dani Sordo gave Hyundai’s i20 its first stage win when he won the opening Silves stage, and a second victory in Ourique meant the car led a WRC round for the first time.
Mikko Hirvonen is third in a Ford Fiesta RS, 1.9sec behind Latvala, with Ott Tänak fourth another 3.2sec behind. Sordo and Mads Østberg complete the top six.
Thierry Neuville had understeer problems in the opening stage and is seventh in his i20. The rest of the leaderboard remains uncertain after the cancellation of Almodôvar (SS4) when Robert Kubica crashed his Fiesta RS and blocked the road.
Kubica hit a tree and ripped a front wheel off his car, while Elfyn Evans retired in the same test after rolling his Fiesta RS heavily.
Positions in WRC 2 are unclear as notional times are still to be applied for the cancelled stage. After SS3, Nasser Al-Attiyah led in a Fiesta RRC by 0.7sec from Jari Ketomaa with Karl Kruuda third, a further 40.0sec behind.
Conditions were tricky for the first cars through the stages. Dry roads in open areas contrasted with slimy sections in the shade and drivers starting lower down the order enjoyed the best of the conditions, especially in the opening two tests.