WRC 2016: Kris Meeke breaks VW dominance in Rally de Portugal

Kris Meeke and Citroen broke Volkswagen's winning streak in WRC Portugal. Meeke took his second career WRC win after Sebastian Ogier suffered steering issues in the first day. Ogier mounted a late charge to grab the lead but lost out to his team mate Andreas Mikkelsen and dropped to third.

After a string of podium finishes, Kris Meeke finally stands on the top of the podium. He held off constant pressure from the Volkswagen drivers and maintained his lead until the final stage. As soon as Meeke got the lead, he kept a lead of over one minute from the Volkswagen drivers. He was able to build enough of a buffer to cruise to victory, his second career win.

"It's been really important for me to drive a rally like this. It's another step forward. "Everyone says the first win is a monkey off your back but I think the second one is. I think there were six drivers in the championship before this rally with one win. It is quite easy to call one victory a fluke, but to back it up with number two for me really is the monkey off my back, " said Meeke.

Over at Volkswagen, a civil war was brewing among the team mates with Ogier and Mikkelsen swapping places throughout the rally. Ogier one-upped his team mate by winning the Power Stage but was eventually beaten by Mikkelsen by less than five seconds.

In fourth place was Hyundai's Dani Sordo, giving the team its highest finish in the series so far. Eric Camilli from Ford M-Sport meanwhile finished a career high fifth after holding off Jari-Matti Latvala. Mads Otsberg ran a quiet and trouble-free rally, landing him in a solid, points scoring seventh. Fellow Ford driver Martin Prokop finished eighth.

The next round of WRC 2016 will be the Rally Italia Serdegna on June 9 to June 12.