Ogier takes early lead in Germany

World Rally Championship leader Ogier was quickest on both Blankenheim and Sauertal, giving him a 5.7-second overnight gap to Volkswagen team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala in a one-two formation for the home team.

M-Sport Ford's Thierry Neuville again established himself as VW's main rival, but is already 12.7s off the lead.

The Belgian is just ahead of Citroen duo Dani Sordo and Mikko Hirvonen.

Mads Ostberg completes the top six, while M-Sport has already lost one car due to a stage-one crash for Evgeny Novikov.

Robert Kubica has already taken charge in WRC2, leading by 14.9s over Elfyn Evans, with Sepp Wiegand another 8.3s adrift.