Bruno Magalhães believes he can fend off Kris Meeke for fourth place on Rally Islas Canarias.
The Peugeot Sport Portugal driver is 24 seconds behind Meeke with three stages left to run.
Meeke, the defending Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion, has been closing on Magalhães throughout the final morning.
“We are losing a lot of time on the long stage because the tyres are completely finished when we get to the end,” said Magalhães. “We are okay until the first split then afterwards it’s impossible to drive with lots of understeer.
“For sure I am worried about Kris but I don’t think he can make up the time on the short stages because our times are very close.”
Meeke added: “Fifth is about as much as we can do – I don’t think possible to go any further.”