TRIER, Germany (AFP) -- Triple world champion Sebastien Loeb made an immediate impact on Saturday to oust overnight leader Belgian Francois Duval in the Rally of Germany.

Loeb, 33, has won all of the last five World Rally Championship events in Germany since 2002 and will begin Sunday with a 37.8sec lead over Finland's Marcus Groenholm, his main rival for the World Drivers Championship.
Duval, who had taken a surprise lead on Friday, dropped back to third and is 50.4sec off the pace, with Finn Mikko Hirvonen in fourth a further 5.1sec adrift.
Loeb retook the lead on the very first test of the morning as he stormed into SS7, the 16.37km run through St. Wendeler Land and the Frenchman immediately pulled out a 15.2sec advantage which he added to throughout the day.
""I had a great start this morning -- SS7 is a really good test,"" said Loeb.
""The next one is fast and narrow but we didn't have any problems. It was slippery in SS9.
""All in all though I am trying not to push too hard, but it is a hard fight with Marcus.""
Groenholm currently leads the WRC drivers' table with 75 points and Loeb is in second on 62