Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena (Citroen C4 WRC), the defending WRC Champions, made it four wins in row and increased their Championship lead to 10 points over Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen who finished second in their BP Abu Dhabi World Rally Team Ford Focus WRC.  The Frenchman appeared to make a cautious start with his first fastest time achieved in the fourth stage and eventually moving into the lead after stage nine.

Norway's Henning Solberg and Cato Menkerud (Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team Ford Focus) set fastest time on Thursday's Super Special in the Algarve Stadium, but once the rally started in earnest on Friday morning it was Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila in their BP Abu Dhabi World Rally Team Ford Focus WRC who set the pace in stages two and three and lead the rally.

The Finns' fate was, sadly, sealed on stage four where they went off the road and rolled a reported 20 times before coming to rest 150 meters below. Amazingly they both walked away uninjured, paying tribute to the M-Sport car's strength and in-built safety features.

Spaniards Dani Sordo and Marc Marti in their Citroen C4 then took the lead, ahead of Finland's Marcus Gronholm, making a guest appearance in a Subaru Impreza WRC, with Mikko Hirvonen in third.

By stage five the order had been reversed with Hirvonen leading, Gronholm in second and Sordo, after losing 21 seconds overshooting a junction 800 metres from the start - just as Loeb had done when the stage was run earlier as SS2 -  in third.

After seven stages, at the end of Friday's first Leg, Hirvonen continued to lead Sordo with Loeb in third, 18 seconds behind, gaining a place when Gronholm lost 22 seconds in stage seven when he caught a slower car and struggled with a faulty front shock absorber.  For the former WRC Champion his rally was to end in the first Stage (SS8) on Saturday morning when he went off the road.

Loeb was now in his usual stride, setting eight consecutive fastest times to defend his position and secure his 51st WRC victory by 24.3 second ahead of the Finnish pairing of Hirvonen and Lehtinen. “It's incredible - apart from our mistake on Friday's first stage it's been almost a perfect rally!” said Loeb. “After that I was really motivated to do well, so we pushed on the limit all the time. Saturday and Sunday were much better days, we had no problems at all and the car was perfect. I'm very, very happy. Now anything is possible!”

“I started the [final] day thinking a win was possible but the dust hung in the air and I realised after the opening stage that in those conditions I had no chance of catching Sébastien,” said Hirvonen. “I hoped to win here but it wasn't meant to be. I think second place was the maximum I could achieve. Eight points is good for me because many drivers scored zero.”

Norway's Petter Solberg and Welshman Phil Mills (2005 Citroen Xsara) lead home a Norwegian 4-5-6 ahead of his older brother Henning and Adapta Subaru driver Mads Ostberg, the latter enjoying his best-ever WRC result and the first time three Norwegian had been in the top 10 of a WRC round.

By an amazing coincidence both Matthew Wilson and Scott Martin (Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team Ford Focus) and Conrad Rautenbach and Lancashire's Daniel Barritt (Citroen Junior Team) both retired at almost the same spot two kilometres from the finish line of Stage 17. The Cumbrian was holding fifth and the Zimbabwe driver in eighth. All four crew members were uninjured.

Fastest stage times were recorded as follows; Loeb 10, Hirvonen 3, Jari-Matti Latvala and Henning Solberg 2, Dani Sordo 1.

Sébastien Ogier, 2008 Junior World Champion lost over five minutes with broken steering in stage eight but eventually finished 17th under SupeRally rules.

Portugal's Armindo Araujo (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) runner-up in Cyprus won the Production-WRC category and claimed ninth place overall.

The Junior-WRC category was won by Poland's Michal Kosciusko driving a Suzuki Swift, in 13th place overall. He took the lead at the end of Friday's first day and held it to win by over six minutes.

Ireland's Craig Breen (19) and Welsh co-driver Gareth Roberts (21) won the opening round of the six-round Fiesta Sporting Trophy International, finishing 25th overall – equaling the record first  set in Portugal two years ago by 2007 FSTi champion Barry Clark.

Welsh resident, 17 year-old Tom Cave (the youngest-ever participant and dominant class winner on last November's Wales Rally GB) and co-driver Gemma Price, were forced in to retirement with a catalogue of problems stemmimg from an overheating engine. After stage four they were second Fiesta and 51st overall.

George Gwynn, from North Devon, 2008 Citroen C2 co-driver Champion, co-driving for South Africa's Jon Williams (26) in one of the Pirelli Star Driver Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10's, was 23rd overall.

There were 41classified finishers.

For news and results from the Vodafone Rally de Portugal, the fourth event in the 12-round 2009 FIA World Rally Championship, please visit: http://www.rallydeportugal.pt/
For all the latest news, video clips, audio, etc, from the FIA World Rally Championship go to http://www.wrc.com/

WRC Manufacturer Team websites:
BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team  http://www.bpfordwrc.com/
Citroën Total World Rally Team http://www.citroen-wrc.com/
Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team http://www.stobartmotorsport.com/
Munchi's Ford World Rally Team: http://www.munchis.com.ar/

Other WRC websites:
Pirelli - WRC  www.pirellityre.com/web/motorsport/rally/wrc/default.page

The next and fifth round of the FIA WRC is the 29th edition of Rally Argentina, 23rd to 26th April.  For news www.rallyargentina.com/

Wales Rally GB is the 12th and final round of the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship, starting in Cardiff on Thursday 22nd October.