Loeb won the second stage between Resistencia and San Miguel de Tucumán in the north of Argentina after completing the 275km special timed section in 02:06:55 for his 5th career stage win at the gruelling rally.

South Africa’s Giniel de Villiers crossed the finish line 2 minutes and 19 seconds off the pace to complete the stage in 4th, and this has also seen him move to 4th overall.

De Villiers says the stage was gruelling and typical of the world’s toughest rally.

“We had to take care not to make a mistake,” said De Villiers.

“The day was quite hot and it was a very, very fast stage.

“The first 100 km was fast with very big ditches in bad places. We had one moment where we took a big hit on the nose.

“We had to take care not to make a mistake. But for sure, it was a good stage today for the buggy.

“At many places it was very, very fast, but we are happy with our day. A couple of times I had to slow down from a very high speed to slow down for some cows, horses and donkeys, but you know, it's like that.

“Towards the end, it was quite tricky passing all the bikes because the wind was blowing with us and we really had to take care.

The South African who drives for Toyota added that while it’s still early, they are still in the hunt against the French manufacturer, Peugeot.

“I hope that we're in the fight with the Peugeots. It looks like it at the moment - it looks good. Obviously, Sébastien was quite fast today, but I thought it was going to be fast since it's a really flat-out stage.

“It doesn't look too bad and we look forward to tomorrow.

“Sébastien will be hard to catch; he's not nine times world rally champion for nothing, you know”.

The winner of the first stage, Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar, finished second, while Spain’s Carlos Sainz ran in third.

After Tuesday’s stage win, Loeb has also claimed the overall lead.

Wednesday’s third stage runs for 780km between San Miguel de Tucaman and San Salvador de Jujuy with a 364km selective section.

Morgan Piek/OFM Sport