Hanninen holds Argentina advantage

The Finn won three of this morning's four stages, but insisted he was driving cautiously and could push harder if required.

"A good morning: no mistakes and I've tried to go quite smoothly without any risk of punctures," Hanninen said. "Still the boys are pushing so it's going to be an interesting afternoon."

Kris Meeke (Peugeot UK) and Guy Wilks (Skoda UK) are Hanninen's closest rivals, running just 0.2 seconds apart in second and third places. Both were close behind Hanninen initially, but the Finn has now pulled out a 13s cushion, with Meeke coming under greater pressure from Wilks after the latter won SS4.

Meeke said he was struggling with both a minor car problem and with the road breaking up after the first few cars had passed through each stage.

"We had a problem with the engine, it's like the gear cuts are coming in and the engine is momentarily cutting," he explained. "It probably only cost us 2-3s but it's frustrating.

"I think Hanninen has an advantage with the conditions. As soon as the first one or two cars are through it turns to porridge. It felt like I had no power - the soft ground's soaking it all up."

Jan Kopecky is running a quiet fourth in the second works Skoda, with Federico Villagra fifth in the M-Sport Ford Fiesta and concerned that the car was down on power.

Nasser Al-Attiyah has been unable to keep pace with the leaders so far as he acclimatises to the Rene Georges Skoda he will use in this year's Intercontinental Rally Challenge, and currently runs seventh.

After taking second on yesterday's superspecial, Bruno Magalhaes has dropped back to eighth. The Portuguese driver has found it tough to get used to his pace notes in his first attempt at Rally Argentina.

Pos  Driver                 Car          Time/Gap
 1.  Juho Hanninen          Skoda        43m00.9s
 2.  Kris Meeke             Peugeot       + 13.5s
 3.  Guy Wilks              Skoda         + 13.7s
 4.  Jan Kopecky            Skoda         + 57.0s
 5.  Federico Villagra      Ford        + 1m37.1s
 6.  Gabriel Pozzo          Subaru      + 1m39.8s
 7.  Nasser Al-Attiyah      Skoda       + 2m05.0s
 8.  Bruno Magalhaes        Peugeot     + 2m08.0s
 9.  Juan Manuel Marchetto  Mitsubishi  + 2m11.0s
10.  Nicolas Madero         Mitsubishi  + 2m17.9s