A slow roll of his car has almost certainly cost Kiwi Hayden Paddon any chance of backing up last year's breakthrough World Rally Championship win in Argentina.
Paddon lost almost three minutes after rolling his car on the opening stage on a tricky hairpin, and while both driver and co-driver John Kennard were uninjured, the incident left him with an uphill battle through the remainder of the day.
Starting stage two back in 19th, the 30-year-old did however manage to respond with two quicker times on the proceeding stages to move back inside the top 10.
"A difficult morning - started alright in the first couple of splits in the stage, then obviously it got quite rough," said a frustrated Paddon.
"It makes the rest of the rally more difficult ... it's just a matter of being smart now and just trying not to lose any more time, and I think maybe a good result is still possible."
And indeed it was, with the Kiwi flyer going on to record fastest-equal and fastest times respectively through stages seven and eight.
Those victories moved him into seventh position at the end of the day's racing, a welcome result given the team's shaky start.
"Feeling much better this afternoon, could still improve but I'm more comfortable," he said.
Welshman Elfyn Evans will head into day two at the top of the leaderboard, with Norway's Mads Ostberg in second and Belgian Thierry Neuville in third.
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