Delecour: I've not seen anything like it.

Francois Delecour and Daniel Grataloup have moved up to fifth in their Focus RS, despite suffering continuing problems with a misted windscreen and the appalling conditions in the Rallye de Portugal.

"Daniel could see clearly and he kept urging me to go faster but I couldn't see much at all," said Delecour. "My times are good and the Focus feels incredibly strong but unless there are retirements ahead of me I can't improve my position and I'm not going to risk anything on these roads. In 20 years in the sport I've not seen anything like it."

Meanwhile, the battle for the lead on this third round of the FIA World Rally Championship continued to rage between Ford Martini drivers Carlos Sainz and Luis Moya and four-times world champion Tommi M?kinen as the rally headed back into the trio of stages around Arganil.

Conditions showed no signs of improving, with the rain beginning to fall again and thick fog in the hilly sections - visibility at the nearby airport in Porto was reduced to just seven metres. The first run through these stages this morning left the roads even more heavily rutted and added to the drivers' difficulties.

Ford's Spanish pair were second fastest on the 24.78km Oliveira do Hospital (SS14) and then fastest by more than seven seconds on the 14.27km Arganil to reduce the deficit to M?kinen to just 16.7sec. However, the Finn fought back on the 19.62km Gois and the drivers arrived in service separated by 28.7sec.

"We slid off the road briefly twice in Gois," said 38-year-old Sainz. "We didn't lose much time and there's no damage to the car but there's just so much mud and water around it's easy to make a mistake. That's bad enough but the fog is the worst thing, the visibility is very poor."