Ford driver Colin McRae held a comfortable 37.1-second lead over fellow Briton Richard Burns at the end of the second leg on the Rally of Argentina today.
But it was a day marred by a serious injury to a member of Skoda's management team.
McRae and Burns shared wins on each of the day's seven stages but the leg was dominated by an accident at the end of the 11th 'Amboy 1' stage.
Engineering Director Dr. Jens Pohlmann, the second-in-command of the Czech team's Motorsport programme, was struck when a speeding firetruck overturned after answering a call to deal with a blaze involving several spectator cars.
The firetruck rolled on to the Skodas of drivers Armin Schwarz and Bruno Thiry, who were waiting in a queue at the time control near the Calmuchita service area.
Pohlmann was airlifted by helicopter to a nearby hospital in Cordoba after suffering broken ribs, pelvis and head injuries. He remained in a stablecondition at the end of the leg. A roadside barbecue is thought to have started the initial blaze.
Both Schwarz, the top German driver, and team-mate Thiry escaped unhurt following the accident. The pair were pulled out of the event by theSkoda team.
Only 15 cars completed the next run due to the high volume of spectators on the stage and the 13th run was delayed by half-an-hour due to the same problem as safety concerns arose once again in the championship.
Leader McRae, who held an advantage of 41.4 seconds overnight, extended his lead as he won two of the first four stages of the day before Burns clawed some time back on the later runs.
McRae showed no ill-effects of driving first on each stage and admitted that his decision to choose harder tyres on the abrasive Argentine gravelhad paid dividends.
"Everything is going to plan," McRae said. "The roads were like concrete and the tyres were well-suited to the conditions.
"I thought our times would be close to Richard's because he's normally quick on these stages. It's been hard work but the hard work isn't over.
"We had a good lead but any lead is good as long as you're at the front. I don't need to push harder for the remainder of the rally unless Richardputs on the pressure."
Spaniard Carlos Sainz remained in a distant third position, more than a minute adrift of Ford team mate McRae despite being plagued by a backinjury.
Championship leader Tommi Makinen dropped down to fifth position after his Mitsubishi lost rear-wheel drive on the ninth 'Santa Rosa deCalamuchita 1' run.
Frenchman Didier Auriol, the winner of the previous round in Spain, lost more than four minutes when a snapped throttle cable and turbochargerproblems hampered his progress in his Peugeot in successive stages. He ended the leg well off the pace in ninth spot.
The remaining drivers face a further 118.5 kilometres of competitive stages before the winner is crowned in Cordoba's football stadium tomorrow. -Reuters