World Rally championship leader Marcus Gronholm extended his advantage in the Rally of Argentina on Friday.

The Finn set the best time on five of the nine stages on the opening leg, opening up a one minute and 41.3 seconds lead over compatriot Tommi Makinen.

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Britain's Richard Burns, the reigning world champion, is third overall for Peugeot, but is more than two minutes down on Gronholm.

Peugeot driver Gronholm's dominance was underlined by finishing the penultimate stage 45 seconds clear.

Gronholm said: "The car has felt very good and we have made no mistakes.

"The roads are a bit slippery and I've tried to push hard since the rally started."

Norwegian Petter Solberg, driving for Subaru, moved up to fourth at the expense of Peugeot's Finnish driver Harri Rovanpera, who dropped to eighth after the final two stages of the day.

Briton Colin McRae, who won the event last year, lost more than 30 seconds after spinning his Ford at the third stage and finished the day in 10th.

He is more than four minutes off the pace.

He said: "We spun at a fourth gear left-hand bend and the nose of the car ended up tight against a bank.

"The road was narrow at that point so we had to edge backwards and forwards several times to get going again."

The first stage of the rally had been cancelled because of overcrowding on the course, and the second stage was delayed by 17 minutes.

The drivers tackle the same nine stages used on the opening leg on Saturday before four tests make up Sunday's final leg.

Leading times after the opening leg of the Rally of Argentina

1 Marcus Gronholm (Finland) Peugeot one hour, 29 minutes, 42 seconds
2 Tommi Makinen (Finland) Mitsubishi, 1:40.3 seconds behind
3 Richard Burns (Britain) Peugeot 2:01.0
4 Petter Solberg (Norway) Subaru 2:07.6
5 Carlos Sainz (Spain) Ford 2:21.5
6 Freddy Loix (Belgium) Hyundai 2:48.6
7 Giles Panizzi (France) Peugeot 3:14.1
8 Harri Rovanpera (Finland) Peugeot 3:34.5
9 Toni Gardemeister (Finland) Ford 3:53.3
10 Colin McRae (Britain) Ford 4:08.6
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