Hirvonen retires from Rally Argentina

The Ford driver had dominated the opening stages of the event, and was 50 seconds clear of Sebastien Loeb by lunchtime service.

But he hit a rock in the first stage of this afternoon's loop, breaking his suspension and forcing him to retire from day one.

Hirvonen's misfortune puts his title rival Loeb into the rally lead, ahead of Subaru's Chris Atkinson and Petter Solberg.

With Stobart Ford's Henning Solberg also stopping with suspension damage in the stage, it has been a bad afternoon for Ford so far. Their second works driver Jari-Matti Latvala had earlier dropped from second to 21st after rolling during the morning.

Loeb now has a 55-second lead at the head of the field, but the Citroen driver remains cautious.

"For sure it looks much more comfortable for me now," he told World Rally Radio. "But I don't like to take the lead like this, I'd prefer to fight and really be in a battle."