Day 2am: Gronholm leads
It's perhaps too early to start predicting whether Marcus Gronholm, still in the lead of the Rally Argentina at the halfway point of the second day, can finally end his, and Peugeot's, current winless streak that dates back to the same event last year
What can be said is the double world champion is giving it everything to win this year's event. H continued to lead through this morning's first four stages before service after taking three imperious stage wins. He is being forced to push hard wily veteran Carlos Sainz is pressuring him all the way. The Spaniard has remained never less than a spin's worth of time away from the Peugeot driver all through the event.
Petter Solberg, back in the event through the new SupeRally system, was fastest in the first stage, SS13, but the next three belonged to Gronholm, who stretched his lead from 8.4s overnight to double that by the end of SS16.
Sainz is not giving up however and has never been out of the top three fastest stage times all morning, and not more than 4s slower. The Citroen driver knows that this might be his best chance of the year to make the record of most WRC wins all of his owns. The Spaniard currently shares it with one Mr C McRae.
Championship leader Sebastien Loeb just doesn't have the pace of his Citroen team-mate this weekend and ended the morning nearly a full minute off the lead in third place. It would seem the Frenchman is happy to settle for a podium spot now and hope that one of the two protagonists at the front runs in to trouble - not unheard of in Gronholm's case this year.
Loeb's position is hardly under threat in any case. Francois Duval is currently fourth overall, more than two and a half minutes behind. The Belgian is upholding Ford honours after his team-mate Markko Martin obliterated his Focus against a rock yesterday. The Estonian was thankfully released from hospital last night, but may have to return after complaining of double vision.
Kristian Sohlberg is performing mini-miracles in the faster of the two Mitsubishi Lancers in fifth, ahead of Mikko Hirvonen's factory Subaru in sixth. Hirvonen is the only Subaru driver left, after Solberg's SupeRally return was halted when he retired again with an oil leak on SS15.
Harri Rovanpera lost ten minutes with a power-steering failure yesterday, but the Finn has not given up and is chasing Hirvonen hard in seventh. He still has to find nearly two minutes to catch him mind while Luis Companc Perez holds the final points scoring position in eighth.
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