*Toksport WRT ace takes back-to-back wins to extend European championship advantage *Thrilling fight for positions during morning loop as fractions cover leading contenders *Iconic Lameirinha stage, with its famous Pedra Sentada, provides stunning live coverage *Lukyanuk battles to second place ahead of Portuguese championship winner Araújo *Sordo returns from crash and scores four stage wins for Team MRF Tyres 

*Young Spaniards Pardo and Bassas win ERC2 and ERC3 respectively 

*Marczyk claims ERC-MICHELIN Talent Factory top prize after strong drive 

Andreas Mikkelsen and Elliott Edmondson have completed the FIA European Rally Championship’s  Portuguese double-header in style, adding to their 55th Azores Rallye triumph from last month with victory  on Rally Serras de Fafe e Felgueiras this afternoon. 

Driving a MICHELIN-equipped Škoda Fabia Rally2 for Toksport WRT, Mikkelsen was able to pull clear of  Alexey Lukyanuk during the afternoon loop to top the order in northern Portugal as a mechanical issue  slowed the defending ERC champion, who was 0.7s behind Mikkelsen after today’s second stage, such  was the intensity of the earlier fight. 

But there were no problems for Norwegian Mikkelsen, who completed the iconic Lameirinha stage, with  its famous Pedra Sentada jump, live on Facebook and YouTube more than two minutes in front of his  Russian rival to extend his advantage at the top of the ERC standings to 71 points with two events left. 

“It’s looking really, really good [for the championship],” said Mikkelsen. “I’m very happy with this weekend  even though it’s a shame we couldn’t fight with Alexey to the end. It was really difficult conditions, especially  yesterday. Elliott did an amazing job, my Toksport team also. The car was so reliable the whole weekend  and it was a pleasure to drive and a nice experience. We managed to stay out of trouble, drove clever and  pushed where we had to. It was the recipe for success this weekend.” 

Despite carrying a broken front-right driveshaft on his Saintéloc Junior Team-run Citroën C3 Rally2 on  Sunday afternoon’s loop, Lukyanuk was able to hold on to second ahead of Portuguese championship  duo Armindo Araújo and Bruno Magalhães who were third and fourth after 16 action-packed stages. 

Rallye Team Spain’s Nil Solans won the battle for fifth place ahead of Norbert Herczig (Škoda Rally Team  Hungaria) and Erik Cais (Yacco ACCR Team), who was slowed by a damaged rear-left tyre on SS16.  Yoann Bonato (CHL Sport Auto), Miko Marczyk (ORLEN Team) and Benito Guerra completed the top 10,  despite Guerra picking up a front-right damaged tyre on SS15. By finishing ninth overall, Marczyk is the  leading ERC-MICHELIN Talent Factory member after six rounds and wins the full tyre allocation for the  remaining two rounds of the ERC season as his prize. 

Javier Pardo took his fourth ERC2 win in as many starts in his Suzuki Motor Ibérica-entered Swift R4lly S  as Rallye Team Spain’s Pep Bassas hit back from his Azores crash to claim the ERC3 laurels in a Peugeot  208 Rally4 run by local team The Racing Factory. 

Dani Sordo restarted on Sunday morning after crashing out on Saturday’s closing stage. The Spaniard  gave a clear glimpse of what might have been by claiming four stage wins for Team MRF Tyres.