It was mixed fortunes on the opening day in Brazil on Friday for the Abarth team with Giandomenico Basso (top) fighting his way into second place on the leaderboard on the final stage of the leg, although team mate Anton Alén (bottom) put himself out of the reckoning when he hit a rock. The IRC 2WD Cup is led by local driver Rafael Tulio in a Peugeot 206 S1600. His compatriot Luis Tedesco (above) is second, just over a minute behind in a Fiat Palio S1600.

It was mixed fortunes on the opening day in Brazil on Friday for the Abarth team with Giandomenico Basso fighting his way into second place on the leaderboard on the final stage of the leg, although team mate Anton Alén put himself out of the reckoning when he hit a rock.

Basso squeezed past the Peugeot Belgium 207 S2000 of Nicolas Vouilloz on the very last stage of the day, concluding a battle that had lasted throughout the afternoon. Both drivers enjoyed a clean run throughout the opening day with no major problems, but in the end it was Basso who overhauled the reigning IRC champion.

Both Basso and Vouilloz were happy with their performances when it came to the competitive action yesterday, and they are looking forward to resuming their epic battle over the six gravel stages that will make up the final day of the rally today. They will start today's leg separated by just 0.3 seconds.

The flat-out Brazilian gravel roads, with a hard and compacted surface, claimed Basso's young team mate Alén who had an impact with a rock on a first gear corner towards the end of SS3, which punctured his rear-left tyre and also broke a suspension joint. The Finn - who had been running in a strong second place - was forced to make emergency repairs by the roadside, and then lost time driving slowly through the following stage. Once back at service, the Abarth mechanics restored the car to full health and Alén was able to continue at his previous pace, setting second-fastest time on the final stage of the day.

At the front Peugeot UK driver Kris Meeke claimed the lead after the opening day of the Curitiba Rally in Brazil, making a perfect start by winning all seven of the gravel special stages that were run as leg one on Friday. Meeke did not put a foot wrong from the very beginning, and he returned to parc ferme last night at the Curitiba circuit - which also hosts the opening round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship this weekend - with a 48.6-second cushion over his nearest rival.

Behind Basso and Voilloz in fourth place at the end of day one was Argentinean driver Alejandro Cancio, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution for the Tango Rally Team. Cancio was extremely strong, setting times that were never out of the top six and concluding the day with a third-fastest time on the final stage of the day.

Peugeot Belgium's Freddy Loix, who finished second on January's opening round of the IRC in Monte Carlo, was first on the road today and so had the unenviable task of sweeping it clean for all the following competitors. He consequently lost a lot of time sliding on loose gravel and has ended up in a provisional fifth place overall, 18 seconds behind Cancio. The Paraguayan Victor Galeano was sixth overnight, ahead of the top Brazilian driver who is Oswaldo Scheer, in a similar Mitsubishi. Another Brazilian, Paulo Nobre, rounds out the points-scoring places with eighth, also in a Mitsubishi.

Argentinean driver Marcos Ligato, Cancio's team mate in the Tango Rally Team and a well-established frontrunner in the Production Car World Rally Championship, was running in an excellent fifth place until SS4, when he picked up a puncture that he did not stop to change. Unfortunately the flailing rubber damaged his Mitsubishi's radiator, and although he got to the end of the stage with not much time lost, the damage inflicted proved to be terminal.

The IRC 2WD Cup is led by local driver Rafael Tulio in a Peugeot 206 S1600. His compatriot Luis Tedesco is second, just over a minute behind in a Fiat Palio S1600. Another Brazilian, Peugeot's Marcos Tokarski, is third in this hotly-contested category.