Frenchman Sebastien Ogier took the lead of Rally Portugal on Saturday, after overnight leader Ott Tanak suffered a power steering failure late in the day's action.
The 2019 world champion encountered the problem on the penultimate stage of the day (SS17) and conceded 45 seconds to Ogier, which will likely cost him overall victory.
"It's not the way you want to win any fight," said Ogier.
"We were both pushing really hard –- that's the game. We tried to keep the pressure on, even if he (Tanak) was a bit quicker.
"I'm not happy.
"I don't want to celebrate this way. I just hope he can still recover as many points as possible -– it's not over. Tomorrow is a long day," he added.
Ogier goes into the final day of racing with a comfortable lead over his Toyota teammate Kalle Rovanpera.
The eight-time world champion is very well placed to win, holding a 27.6sec lead over the second-placed Finn with Hyundai's Tanak a further 8.5sec back in third.
"It's part of the game, I guess. Very unfortunate, but we gave everything from our side," said Tanak.
Victory would be Ogier's seventh in Portugal, as well as a third podium in three races this season after his victory at the end of January in Monte Carlo and his second place in the Canaries last month.
Rovanpera, who was untouchable in the Spanish archipelago with 15 out of 18 special stages won, could be the weekend's big winner as he has the chance to reduce the gap in the championship to Welshman Elfyn Evans, who currently lounges in seventh place in Portugal.
Reigning Belgian world champion Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) sits in fourth place ahead of Japan's Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota).
The rally finishes on Sunday with six special stages totalling 72.16km of timed action.