Frenchman Sebastien Loeb continued his winning streak in the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship this weekend, claiming a convincing victory in the Vodafone Rally de Portugal. He led the event from the beginning of the second day and has now notched up 51 WRC wins, equalling the achievement of countryman Alain Prost in Formula One. The final day of the event would be a relatively static affair at the very top of the leaderboard. Loeb had built a 26-second lead over Mikko Hirvonen by the end of the second day and team-mate Dani Sordo was a further 30 seconds back. With the drivers so evenly matched, it would take a mistake by one of the leading three to change the order. The first stages of the day would prove tricky. The early morning dust was hanging in the air with the passing of every car and Loeb, first on the road, made the most of the clear conditions, taking the win on the first pair. Hirvonen was second and Sordo third on both tests, as the crews headed back to the Algarve Stadium for the day’s main service. Behind them, Peter Solberg was chasing Dani Sordo but realistically, was too far adrift to mount a challenge for third place. In fourth place was Matthew Wilson ahead of Henning Solberg, both in Ford Focus World Rally Cars and both close enough to worry each other. After service, Loeb had clearly backed off but a timing anomaly on the penultimate stage of the event showed that he had dropped 16 seconds to Hirvonen on the split times. Loeb knew there was no problem but the information was relayed to Hirvonen’s car and he sensed an opportunity to challenge for the win. He upped his pace but when he saw the same advantage at the next split, realised that there was a glitch in the system and again, relaxed his pace, guarding a valuable second place. In the Production car World Rally Championship, the win went to local hero Armindo Araujo. In the FIA Junior World Rally Championship, Michal Kosciuszko drove a dominant event.