Loeb has been dominant in the Rally of Germany in recent times

The Frenchman reclaimed top spot from overnight leader and fellow Citroen driver Francois Duval in the day's opening stage and dominated after that.

He holds a 37.8-second lead over championship leader Marcus Gronholm ahead of Sunday's five stages.

Duval overcame a number of errors to hold onto third.

Gronholm's Finnish compatriot and team-mate Mikko Hirvonen is fourth with Jan Kopecky in fifth, 2.7 seconds ahead of Citroen's Toni Gardemeister (Citroen) in fifth.

Duval went off twice in the day's opening stage, which was won by Hirvonen, as Loeb re-took the overall lead and he then stretched his advantage further with victory in stage eight.

Gronholm reduced the deficit with a win in stage nine, which saw Manfred Stohl retire from 10th place with mechanical problems.

Loeb won stage 10, while Duval reclaimed third spot from Hirvonen, who earned his second stage win of the day in stage 11.

Australian Chris Atkinson continued his charge for the top 10 with success in stage 12 while Loeb increased his lead over Gronholm to 31 seconds.

Three-time world champion Loeb claimed stage 13 to extend his lead by 4.1 seconds, while Hirvonen and Duval once again swapped places.

However, the Belgian turned a 0.2-second deficit to Hirvonen into a 5.1-second advantage by the end of the day after coming third behind Atkinson and Loeb on stage 14.

Standings:

1. Sebastien Loeb (Fra) Citroen C4 2hr 48 min 40.4 sec
2. Marcus Gronholm (Fin) Ford Focus at 37.8sec
3. Francois Duval (Bel) Citroen Xsara at 50.4
4. Mikko Hirvonen (Fin) Ford Focus at 55.5
5. Jan Kopecky (Cze) Skoda Fabia at 2:48.7
6. Toni Gardemeister (Fin) Citroen Xsara 2:51.42
7. Petter Solberg (Nor) Subaru Impreza 3:07.1
8. Xevi Pons (Sp) Subaru Impreza 4:16.4
9. Jari-Matti Latvala (Fin) Ford Focus 4:53.8
10. Chris Atkinson (Aus) Subaru Impreza 8:50.9