FARO, Portugal - France's Sebastien Ogier is leading his Volkswagen team in leaps and bounds after he won the Rally of Portugal for the fourth time in five years on Sunday.
He beat Finland's Mikko Hirvonen, driving a Ford, by 43.2sec with Norwegian Mads Ostberg third for Citroen.
'GOOD BATTLE'
Ogier, the reigning champion, leads the standings by 29 points after four of the 13 2014 rallies and Volkswagen's eighth win in a row - matching Citroen's 2011 record.
Ogier, who took the lead on Saturday (April 5) morning and never relinquished it, said: "Portugal is a place I love to drive and now I have four wins from five starts in a world rally car here.
"I had a good battle with Mikko for a big part of the rally and I had good tyre management on every stage yesterday afternoon (April 4) and that made the difference."
Norway's Andreas Mikkelsen was fourth in another VW.
The next rally will be in Argentina over May 8-11.
Result from the Rally of Portugal on Sunday
1 Sebastien Ogier (France) Volkswagen 3hr24min38.7
2 Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) Ford +0min35.4
3 Mads Ostberg (Norway) Citroen +1min08.1
4 Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway) Volkswagen +4min40.5
5 Henning Solberg (Norway) Ford +4min49.2
6 Thierry Neuville (Belgium) Hyundai +7min40.0
7 Martin Prokop (Czech Republic) Ford +8min01.1
8 Juho Haenninen (Finland) Hyundai +8min28.1
9 Nasser al-Attiyah (Qatar) Ford +9min49.7
10 Jari Ketomaa (Finland) Ford +10min00.
WRC Teams' Standings
1 Volkswagen Motorsport - 144
2 Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team - 75
3 M-Sport World Rally Team - 60
4 Hyundai Shell World Rally Team - 45
5 Volkswagen Motorsport II - 40
6 Jipocar Czech National Team - 20
7 RK M-Sport World Rally Team - 4
He beat Finland's Mikko Hirvonen, driving a Ford, by 43.2sec with Norwegian Mads Ostberg third for Citroen.
'GOOD BATTLE'
Ogier, the reigning champion, leads the standings by 29 points after four of the 13 2014 rallies and Volkswagen's eighth win in a row - matching Citroen's 2011 record.
Ogier, who took the lead on Saturday (April 5) morning and never relinquished it, said: "Portugal is a place I love to drive and now I have four wins from five starts in a world rally car here.
"I had a good battle with Mikko for a big part of the rally and I had good tyre management on every stage yesterday afternoon (April 4) and that made the difference."
Norway's Andreas Mikkelsen was fourth in another VW.
The next rally will be in Argentina over May 8-11.
Result from the Rally of Portugal on Sunday
1 Sebastien Ogier (France) Volkswagen 3hr24min38.7
2 Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) Ford +0min35.4
3 Mads Ostberg (Norway) Citroen +1min08.1
4 Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway) Volkswagen +4min40.5
5 Henning Solberg (Norway) Ford +4min49.2
6 Thierry Neuville (Belgium) Hyundai +7min40.0
7 Martin Prokop (Czech Republic) Ford +8min01.1
8 Juho Haenninen (Finland) Hyundai +8min28.1
9 Nasser al-Attiyah (Qatar) Ford +9min49.7
10 Jari Ketomaa (Finland) Ford +10min00.
WRC Teams' Standings
1 Volkswagen Motorsport - 144
2 Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team - 75
3 M-Sport World Rally Team - 60
4 Hyundai Shell World Rally Team - 45
5 Volkswagen Motorsport II - 40
6 Jipocar Czech National Team - 20
7 RK M-Sport World Rally Team - 4