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Citroen Junior Team's Sebastien Ogier held off Sebastien Loeb to win in Portugal today and take his first win at the top level.

Ogier took the lead on Friday morning and ended the opening leg 26.6 seconds up on Dani Sordo. The Frenchman then continued to push on Saturday and while Sebastien Loeb took over as his main rival, the 2005 Junior World Rally champion maintained his advantage and began the final day with a 21.1 second cushion.

Ogier came under severe pressure on Sunday and his lead was more than halved this morning in the first two stages. He kept his composure though and eventually came through to take the victory by 7.9 seconds.

"It's a fantastic feeling, really fantastic," said Ogier. "Sebastien Loeb is the best driver in the world and it's always difficult to conserve the lead when he is behind you. But we pushed hard for all the rally and managed to keep him behind."

Loeb meanwhile, for once, had to settle for the runners-up spot and despite being quickest in all four of the 'proper' tests today, he was unable to overhaul his compatriot.

"I tried to beat him but he was just too fast. I have a new rival now," Loeb added. "He was really strong all the weekend, especially on the second pass he was very, very fast. We couldn't make any difference today in the afternoon."

Dani Sordo completed the podium, to give Citroen a perfect 1-2-3 finish. Sordo slipped back on Saturday afternoon when he had tyre wear issues, but the Spaniard managed to get back in front of Petter Solberg this morning when the Norwegian had a steering problem in SS14 and complained that his privately-run Citroen C4 WRC felt 'very loose' and was 'difficult' to drive after SS15.

Solberg also had problems in the short event ending super special, when he hit a barrier and lost 10-15 seconds. That dropped him to fifth, with BP Ford Abu Dhabi's Mikko Hirvonen inheriting P4, 14.4 seconds off second and 3.7 seconds up on 'Hollywood'.

Further down the order Britain's Matthew Wilson was sixth for the Stobart Ford Team, although he was 5.5 minutes further back. Wilson had started the leg in seventh, but gained a place when his team-mate, Henning Solberg had technical problems and was forcedto retire in SS15.

1. S Ogier/J Ingrassa FRA Citroen C4 3hr 51min 16.1sec
2. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 3hr 52min 24.0sec
3. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 3hr 52min 33.7sec
4. P Solberg/P Mills NOR Citreon C4 3hr 52min 48.1sec
5. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 3hr 52min 51.8sec
6. M Wilson/S Martin GBR Ford Focus RS 3hr 58min 26.2sec
7. M Østberg/J Andersson NOR Subaru Impreza 3hr 58 min 44.4sec
8. F Villagra/J Campanc ARG Ford Focus RS 4hr 01min 52.2sec
9. K Al Qassimi/M Orr UAE Ford Focus RS 4hr 02min 11.9sec
10. K Räikkönen/K Lindström FIN Citroen C4 4hr 02min 50.4sec

Manufacturer standings
1 Citroen Total WRT 189
2 BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT 163
3 Citroen Junior Team 106
4 Stobart M-Sport Ford RT 84
5 Munchi's Ford WRT 40

driver standings
1 Sebastien Loeb Citroen Total World Rally Team 126
2 Sebastien Ogier Citroen Junior Team 88
3 Mikko Hirvonen BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 76
4 Jari-Matti Latvala BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 72
5 Petter Solberg Petter Solberg World Rally Team 63
6 Dani Sordo Citroen Total World Rally Team 49
7 Matthew Wilson Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team 38
8 Federico Villagra Munchi's Ford World Rally Team 26
9 Henning Solberg Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team 24
10 Kimi Raikkonen Citroen Junior Team 15

1 Martin Prokop Ford Fiesta S2000 33
2 P-G Andersson Skoda Fabia S2000 25
= Xavier Pons Ford Fiesta S2000 25
4 Eyvind Brynildsen Skoda Fabia S2000 22
5 Janne Tuohino Ford Fiesta S2000 18
6 Michal Kosciuszko Ford Fiesta S2000 15
7 Patrik Sandell Skoda Fabia S2000 12
8 Albert Llovera Abarth Grande Punto S2000 10
9 Bernard Sousa Ford Fiesta S2000 8
10 Per-Arne Saav Skoda Fabia S2000

10-14 February Sweden
3-7 March Mexico
31 March-5 April Jordan
5-9 May New Zealand
26-30 May Portugal
28-31 July Finland
18-22 August Germany
8-12 September Japan
29 September-3 October France
10-14 November Great Britain