After a slow start, Loeb was once again in a class of his own

The Citroen driver, who already leads the championship by 23 points, lost out to Subaru's Petter Solberg in the day's opening stage but then found his form.

By the end of the 10th stage Loeb had a lead of 31.3 seconds over Solberg with Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm in third.

Toni Gardemeister enjoyed a fruitful morning to move up the standings.

Loeb secures fifth successive win

But Mitsubishi's Gianluigi Galli suffered severe car trouble on stages five and six to slip out of the points and down to 27th.

Australian rookie Chris Atkinson is on course for points in his Subaru having made seventh place his own, while Manfred Stohl's privately-entered Citroen lies eighth.

Meanwhile, Francois Duval returned to Citroen on Friday following his two-race absence.

The Belgian was dropped in favour of Carlos Sainz after retiring from five of his first six rallies for Citroen but has been given a second chance in Argentina.

Citroen have set him the target of finishing in the points and he at least made it through the first six stages, although he will expect better than ninth.

In the production class, Manxman Mark Higgins is on course for maximum points having guided his Subaru to top spot after six stages.