Sebastien Ogier rounded off Sunday morning’s loop of stages with his Rally de Portugal lead slimmed but intact. With only two more gravel stages and the Super special to go, Ogier has a 10.1sec over the hard charging Sebastien Loeb.
Loeb was the fastest driver through SS15, completing the stage 4.8sec quicker than Ogier and admitting to pushing to the maximum. Ogier, however, claimed he still had something in reserve.
Petter Solberg lost more time because of his car’s damaged steering rack and slipped behind Dani Sordo into fourth place. Mikko Hirvonen, the leading Ford driver, rounded off the morning loop in fifth, only 6.5sec behind Petter.
Stobart Ford team driver Henning Solberg retired 16km into the stage because of a broken fan belt. The Norwegian had been sixth.
Standings after SS15:
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Sébastien OGIER | Citroën C4 WRC | 3h19m57.4s |
| 02 | Sébastien LOEB | Citroën C4 WRC | +10.1s |
| 03 | Dani SORDO | Citroën C4 WRC | +1m14.4s |
| 04 | Petter SOLBERG | Citroën C4 WRC | +1m16.6s |
| 05 | Mikko HIRVONEN | Ford Focus WRC | +1m23.1s |
| 06 | Matthew WILSON | Ford Focus WRC | +5m57.6s |
| 07 | Mads OSTBERG | Subaru Impreza WRC | +6m30.5s |
| 08 | Kimi RAIKKONEN | Citroën C4 WRC | +9m10.6s |
| 09 | Federico VILLAGRA | Ford Focus WRC | +9m22.8s |
| 10 | Khalid AL QASSIMI | Ford Focus WRC | +9m26.0s |
| 11 | Jari KETOMAA | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +12m54.6s |
| 12 | Xavier PONS | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +16m17.9s |
| 13 | Michal KOSCIUSZKO | Skoda Fabia S2000 | +18m21.6s |
| 14 | Armindo ARAÚJO | Mitsubishi Lancer Gr.N | +18m50.7s |
| 15 | Bernardo SOUSA | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +21m08.8s |