Hirvonen surrendered eight minutes to Dakar leader and long-time WRC rival Sebastien Loeb in the first two "WRC-style" stages, his Mini's disadvantage in out-and-out pace compounded by minor engine issues.

However, the Finn had a much stronger run through the first off-road test of the rally, the Tucuman – Jujuy stage, which he finished a close fourth behind the three lead Peugeots.

"The day was good. When it's a bit more technical and twisty, then we can actually fight against others – and I just tried to push like hell when it was twisty and [had] more corners," Hirvonen told Motorsport.com.

"It worked well and Michel [Perin, co-driver] did a great job in the beginning when it was really tricky with the navigation, so all good, we're really happy."

Summing up the three days of competition so far, he said: "[Reliability is] so far all good, I hope it stays that way. Pace-wise, it could be better, but when it's more technical, then it's not too bad."

The Finn, who sits fourth behind Peugeot trio Loeb, Carlos Sainz and Stephane Peterhansel in the overall classification, agreed that the expected tougher route of the rally was a big boost for his chances of fighting for the top positions,

He added: "I enjoy it more as well, it's a lot more fun when you can actually slide a little bit and not go straight all the time.

"But it's not going to be easy for us either, we're just going to go take it day-by-day, try to avoid mistakes from the navigation side and from the driving side."

Hirvonen's emergence as Peugeot's nearest rival was helped by a torrid day for the Toyota crews, with all of the Japanese marque's leading cars hitting trouble.

The Finn said that Toyota's woes would have little affect on his goals for the rally – and that he doesn't believe Peugeot's task has been made much simpler.

"I don't think, in the end, that's any easier for them [Peugeot] either. They can hit some problems as well, with the navigation or anything. I don't know, we have to wait and see.

"We go flat out every day and we'll see. Of course, I hope we can continue like this, and if we can catch the Peugeots, take some time out of them, I'll be really happy about it."