Latvala leads from Ogier in Argentina

Ogier had led the way on both Thursday's superspecial and Friday's opening Santa Catalina stage.

But Latvala was comfortably faster on the 52km Ascochinga stage that followed, putting himself into a 3.3-second lead as Ogier felt his first-on-the-road position cost him time.

VW currently holds the top three positions, with Andreas Mikkelsen 15s behind Ogier in third despite feeling he had damaged his power steering when he clouted a large stone on SS3.

Two of VW's biggest potential rivals failed to make it beyond Santa Catalina. Mikko Hirvonen crashed his M-Sport Ford heavily, while Mads Ostberg ripped a wheel off his Citroen.

It is Hyundai's Thierry Neuville who occupies the 'best of the rest' position, half a minute off the lead and 10.1s ahead of Kris Meeke's Citroen.

The second Hyundai of Dani Sordo has lost several minutes with apparent turbo problems.

Robert Kubica is driving extremely cautiously as he tries to ensure that his recent run of crashes comes to an end. He is eighth at present.