Stage 6: Burns retires, stage called off

The second day of the Monte Carlo Rally started in dramatic fashion when four of the leading cars failed to restart from Gap.

Richard Burns was forced into early retirement when he tried to start his second placed Subaru and the engine refused to fire.

The time ran out and the Oxford driver was back at his hotel long before the start of the first stage.

Subaru was not the only team to suffer.

All three Peugeots (for third placed Gilles Panizzi, ninth placed Francois Delecour - who had received an overnight one minute penalty for checking in early to the final service - and tenth placed Marcus Gronholm) were similarly struck down by engine mapping problems.

The dramas left Tommi Makinen's Mitsubishi with a comfortable lead of 1m51s over Ford's Carlos Sainz with SEAT driver Toni Gardemeister a further 30secs adrift.

Organisers also cancelled the first stage of today's leg due to the number of spectators spilling onto the rally route.

It is understood temperatures have dipped as low as -7c and made driving too dangerous.

Both Burns and Panizzi were early leaders of the event.

Stage seven will start at 10.11 GMT.