Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala took the Rally Argentina lead on Friday as he searches for back-to-back WRC wins.

Latvala, who was victorious in the previous round in Mexico, won four of the eight speed tests in his Volkswagen around the primarily fast and sandy gravel roads in the Calamuchita Valley.

"It's been a very good day with no really big mistakes," said Latvala. "A couple of small ones, but that's part of the game when you're fighting hard.

"It was my plan to take this morning's first stage steadily because it was the roughest. 

"It isn't one of my favourites and second time through there were many impacts in the ruts, so I was careful not to push too much again."

Team-mate Sebastien Ogier, who tied with Dani Sordo for the overnight lead, is 7.9 seconds behind Latvala in the overall standings. 

Hayden Paddon (+11.4secs) rounds out the top three in his Hyundai, with Andreas Mikkelsen (+25.7s) and Sordo (+49.0s) sitting in fourth and fifth respectively.