Jari-Matti Latvala has bagged his third stage win of Vodafone Rally de Portugal to move into the lead of the world championship event.
While Citroen drivers Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier dropped their pace on the test to avoid running first on the road on Saturday, Latvala went on a charge to beat Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen by 6.4 seconds.
As a result he will take a lead of 11.5s over team-mate Mikko Hirvonen into day two with Loeb third and Ogier fourth, 16.7s adrift of first place.
Petter Solberg elected not to complete the stage after losing several minutes with a third puncture of the afternoon. With no spare available to make it back to service in Faro, Solberg decided to retire from the day and will restart on Saturday morning under SupeRally regulations with a 10-minute time penalty.
Portuguese hero Bernardo Sousa was in ninth overall on his debut in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC prior to the stage start but is reported to have gone off the road.
Standings after SS7:
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | J. LATVALA / M. ANTTILA | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | 1h23m31.4s |
| 02 | M. HIRVONEN / J. LEHTINEN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +11.5s |
| 03 | S. LOEB / D. ELENA | Citroën DS3 WRC | +13.7s |
| 04 | S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA | Citroën DS3 WRC | +16.7s |
| 05 | H. SOLBERG / I. MINOR | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +2m06.5s |
| 06 | M. WILSON / S. MARTIN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +2m11.2s |
| 07 | A. ARAUJO / M. RAMALHO | Mini John Cooper Works S2000 | +3m43.7s |
| 08 | F. VILLAGRA / J. PÉREZ COMPANC | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +4m31.9s |
| 09 | K. RAIKKONEN /K. LINDSTROM | Citroën DS3 WRC | +4m33.1s |
| 10 | K. AL QASSIMI / M. ORR | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +4m35.2s |
| 11 | D. KUIPERS / F. MICLOTTE | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +5m45.6s |
| 12 | H. PADDON / J. KENNARD | Subaru Impreza STI | +5m59.4s |
| 13 | A. GRONDAL / V. ENGAN | Subaru Impreza STI | +6m32.7s |
| 14 | P. VAN MERKSTEIJN / E. CHEVAILLIER | Citroën DS3 WRC | +7m14.0s |
| 15 | B. MAGALHAES / P. GRAVE | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +8m09.0s |