(Reuters) -Hyundai's Ott Tanak ended the first full day of the Acropolis Rally with a slender three second lead over teammate Adrien Fourmaux as the Greek heat and rough roads left rivals struggling to keep up.
Tanak stayed out of trouble to lead on Friday night despite not winning any of the seven gravel stages in temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius.
"At times it was difficult to keep everything in one piece but I think in the end we must be happy that we didn't have any big trouble with the tyres or with the car," said the Estonian.
Hyundai's reigning champion and last year's Acropolis winner Thierry Neuville led after stage three but then dropped three minutes after collecting two punctures, before taking the day's final stage to end the day eighth.
Toyota's Takamoto Katsuta and Kalle Rovanpera also lost time with tyre problems.
Teammate and eight-times world champion Sebastien Ogier was in third place, 16.9 seconds behind Tanak after leading up to stage five, and won two stages to Fourmaux's three.
The Frenchman's championship-leading teammate Elfyn Evans was fourth and Gregoire Munster fifth for M-Sport Ford. Katsuta and Rovanpera were sixth and seventh.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
