''We started well in the morning,'' said Tänak, 31, from Saaremaa, who, coming into the weekend, had been leading the race in  the Córdoba Sierras, around the town of Villa Carlos Paz, approximately 700 km northwest of Buenos Aires.

''The roads were very different from yesterday – really smooth and sometimes fast. There were also some slippery places, so holding the line was intermittent," Tänak said in a press release.

''We wanted to continue working hard in the afteroon, but we soon found out a problem on the first attempt – the battery was running low, and on the second attempt we had to drop out. Naturally that's disappointing,'' Tänak went on, adding that the team would continue to do its best on Sunday and that the season was a long one.

For his part, team boss of Toyota Gazoo Racing and Finnish rally legend Tommi Mäkinen praised his charge's strong performance up until the breakdown.

''We are investigating the issue, but we do know that the battery was starting to run low before the test stage, so there was something obviously amiss either with battery or alternator,'' said Mäkinen.

The speed tests and last points stage are to be covered on ERR's Estonian sports portal here, and ETV2 is also covering the event, currently led by Thierry Neuville of Belgium, from 18.00 EET on Sunday.