Gronholm edges lead
Marcus Gronholm edged out a slight lead on Rally Argentina with a consistent display on the first full day of the event.
The Finn, who won the first two rallies of the season before falling behind world champion Sebastien Loeb in the standings, held a slender advantage overnight after the opening two super special stages.
He slipped down to second early in the day but recovered his advantage on stage five before winning his first stage of the day on the next run. That left the Ford driver with a 12.7-second advantage over the Citroen of Loeb.
Petter Solberg enjoyed one of his most competitive showings of the season, winning the first stage of the day before cementing third place.
The Subaru driver is 15 seconds clear of fourth-placed Mikko Hirvonen’s Ford as he aims for just his second podium of the season.
Gianluigi Galli is running fifth in his Mitsubishi with Henning Solberg, in another Ford, sixth.
Manfred Stohl’s OMV Peugeot is seventh while Chris Atkinson’s Subaru completes the top eight.
England’s Matthew Wilson has his best chance yet of points in his rookie world championship season. The Stobart Ford driver is 10th after six stages.
Darlington’s Guy Wilks leads a four-car junior championship field after six stages in his Suzuki by over a minute.
