Finland's Marcus Gronholm surged into an early lead at the Rally of Argentina today with victory in two of the day's opening three specials.
World Rally Championship leader Gronholm went out first and set a scorching pace in his Peugeot 206 WRC, clocking a time of 28min 59.6sec, that left the rest of the field trailing at Villa Carlos Paz, close to Cordoba.
Gronholm, who is chasing his third victory of the season, blazed around the course as some of his rivals struggled to get to grips with the dusty and debris-strewn conditions. The first special of the day was scrapped because of too many spectators on the course.
When racing began Gronholm quickly put himself clear of his rivals, building up a 15-second lead over Subaru Impreza driver Tommi Makinen and fellow Peugeot drivers Harri Rovanpera and Richard Burns.
"The conditions are very dusty and fast which make things difficult because the visibility is not very good," four-time world champion Makinen said afterwards.
"The dust thrown up hangs in the air for a while and makes it gloomy," he added. Only the Subarus managed to stay in touch with the Peugeots of Gronholm, Rovanpera and Burns.
Spanish Ford Focus star Carlos Sainz was in seventh, 50sec off the pace, while Colin McRae was more than a minute back.
"It's a shame that the first special was cancelled because we know it very well and that would have allowed us to get into the rhythm for the next two stages," a disappointed McRae said. Five more special stages will be held later today.