Hirvonen grabs early lead in Argentina

Rain and fog have hampered the drivers in the rally's opening four stages, but Hirvonen fared much better than the chasing pack.

The Ford driver was a huge 48 seconds quicker than the rest of the field through SS1, and has maintained a similar advantage throughout the first loop of stages.

World champion Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) trails Hirvonen by 50.8 seconds at present, having already had a quick spin. He gained second place when Hirvonen's teammate Jari-Matti Latvala rolled off the road and lost nine minutes in SS2.

Latvala was able to rejoin with only superficial damage, and began his recovery by winning SS3. However he then sustained more suspension damage in the next stage and dropped another 25 seconds.

The two Subarus have made a promising start to the rally and are currently third and fourth. Chris Atkinson has already dropped one and a half minutes behind Hirvonen, but is 30 seconds clear of his fourth-placed teammate Petter Solberg.

Stobart Ford's Gigi Galli established himself in fifth position early on, and has so far managed to fend off the chasing Dani Sordo (Citroen). The Spaniard was second-fastest to Hirvonen through SS4 and now just 3.2 seconds behind Galli.

Galli's teammate Henning Solberg struggled for confidence when the fog was at its most severe early on, but as visibility improved, so did the Norweigan's pace.

He was third fastest in SS4 and has progressed to eighth place, closing to within 5.8 seconds of seventh-placed Federico Villagra (Munchi's Ford). The local driver has made a very promising start to his home event, and has run in the points all morning.

Suzuki's rally got off to a worrying beginning when Per-Gunnar Andersson's car failed on the road section prior to the first stage. The team were waiting for the car to return to service before diagnosing the problem.

Andersson's teammate Toni Gardemeister is still running and currently holds ninth, ahead of Stobart Ford's Matthew Wilson.

Pos  Driver        Car      Time
 1.  Hirvonen      Ford     55:54.1
 2.  Loeb          Citroen  +  50.8
 3.  Atkinson      Subaru   +1:33.8
 4.  P Solberg     Subaru   +2:03.9
 5.  Galli         Ford     +2:15.8
 6.  Sordo         Citroen  +2:19.0
 7.  Villagra      Ford     +3:45.8
 8.  H Solberg     Ford     +3:51.6
 9.  Gardemeister  Suzuki   +4:18.3
10.  Wilson        Ford     +4:33.9