Norway’s former world champion Petter Solberg, in a Ford Fiesta, maintained his lead of the Rally of Argentina on Friday at the end of the race’s first three stages.

France’s eight-time world champion Sebastien Loeb, unbeaten in Argentina since 2005, was fourth at 34secs adrift after first spinning his Citroen on stage two and then spinning it twice more on the 52km stage three from Ascochinga to Agua de Oro.

Due to the forecast of rain in the afternoon, most of the field took to the start in softer tyres.

Citroen’s Mikko Hirvonen is second at 20.1secs with Spaniard Dani Sordo third at 24.6secs.