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Sebastien Ogier wins Portugal Rally, Craig Breen takes fifth

Sebastien Ogier celebrates his win
Sebastien Ogier celebrates his win

World champion Sebastien Ogier won the Rally of Portugal for a record-equalling fifth time on Sunday to stretch his championship lead to 22 points, while Craig Breen earned his fourth fifth-placed finish of the season.

M-Sport Ford driver Ogier sealed his second win of the season by finishing 15.6 seconds clear of Thierry Neuville with the Belgian's Hyundai team mate Dani Sordo third in the gravel event.

The victory equalled the five in Portugal chalked up by retired Finnish great Markku Alen.

M-Sport's Ott Tanak, who had led on Saturday until he damaged his car's rear suspension, won the final power stage for a five-point bonus, with Neuville collecting four after finishing second.

Four-times world champion Ogier was fifth in the stage and took only one additional point. The Frenchman now has 128 points to Neuville's 106. 

For Breen it was another highly satisfactory outing.

"It looks like I've signed up for fifth place for the season!" he said. "It's been another good weekend for us.

"We were one of the fastest on Friday and, in all likelihood, we would have led the overall standings had we not hit a rock and broken a damper on SS7.

"We had a little bit more difficulty matching the pace of the leading cars on the next two days.

"I think there were several factors at play, but it was mainly down to my lack of knowledge of the stages and not having such a good starting position. We'll keep working and try to do even better in Sardinia."

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