Marcus Gronholm's domination of world rallying seems to be continuing unabated after seven stages of Rally Argentina. Peugeot's Flying Finn has led the rally from the first stage and only compatriot Tommi Makinen (Subaru) appears able to stay with him.
The biggest drama today befell Frenchman Francois Delecour (Mitsubishi) who crested a jump, landed on a rock and rolled. He continued but only until the suspension collapsed in a narrow part of the stage. Faced with blocking the stage for later competitors, Delecour drove off the road and retired on the spot.
Makinen was splitting the Peugeot trio of Gronholm, Richard Burns and Finland's Harri Rovanpera with his Norwegian team-mate Petter Solberg fifth ahead of Ford's Carlos Sainz. Colin McRae was still a distant 11th after spinning his car this morning with his brother Alister two places adrift in his Mitsubishi.
Two more stages remain before the tired crews can return to Villa Carlos Paz and tonight's rest halt. Tomorrow's leg will be a repeat of today's and the problem will be coping with cut-up roads.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
