RALLYING:Citroen's Sebastien Loeb snatched the lead of the Rally Portugal on the final stage of the opening leg after an epic day-long tussle with title rival Marcus Gronholm.

After taking an early advantage on Thursday night's superspecial stage, BP Ford driver Gronholm held onto the lead by winning one of this morning's three stages as the top two reached the midway point of the first leg separated by just two seconds.

But the afternoon runs belonged to reigning champion Loeb who, despite seeing Gronholm win stage five by a fraction from Subaru's Petter Solberg, surged to the top of the timesheets on stages six and seven to take the overall lead by three seconds. Loeb's team-mate Dani Sordo brought the second C4 home in fifth place, while M-Sport Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala finished sixth.