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Loeb well ahead in confirmed results

Sebastien Loeb's hard work on the first two stages of the Monte Carlo Rally has not been for nothing, with organisers confirming that notional results will be awarded to competitors who did not complete the first two stages

Only 11 cars completed the first two special stages this morning, and organisers were then forced to cancel the third special stage as the remaining cars headed back to service.

The problems with the morning's stages all result from traffic congestion leading up to the first stage of the day. The majority of the cars were unable to get to the stage on time due to a road blockage, and only 11 cars set competitive times through the first two stages.

With the confirmation of the results from the first stages, Loeb now has a 30 second lead over Red Bull Skoda driver Gilles Panizzi.

Loeb won the first stage by staggering 25 seconds over the 22.23km test of St Sauveur Sur Tinee Beuill 1. He then increased it to 30.9 seconds by the second stage, after setting the second best time through SS2 - the new 13.60km run from Guillaumes to Valberg.

SS2 was won by Ford's Marcus Gronholm, who currently lies in third position, 3.1 seconds behind Panizzi.

Mitsubishi privateer Gigi Galli is in fourth, ahead of Subaru's Chris Atkinson, who is an impressive fifth in his first Monte Carlo Rally.

The confirmation of the results is bad news for Subaru's Petter Solberg, however.

The Norwegian made a poor tyre choice for his Subaru Impreza, by opting for non-studded slick tyres, and he struggled on the first two wet and icy stages. He finished the morning nearly three minutes behind leader Loeb.

Current leader board:

Pos  Driver        Make          Time
 1.  Loeb          Citroen       24:53:00
 2.  Panizzi       Skoda         +  30.90
 3.  Gronholm      Ford          +  34.00
 4.  Galli         Mitsubishi    +  39.40
 5.  Atkinson      Subaru        +1:12.70
 6.  Gardemeister  Peugeot       +1:43.60
 7.  Stohl         Peugeot       +1:59.40
 8.  Sarrazin      Subaru        +2:07.00
 9.  Duval         Skoda         +2:36.00
10.  Hirvonen      Ford          +2:50.00
11.  Solberg       Subaru        +2:59.00

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