Sébastien Loeb
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Sébastien Loeb (born February 26, 1974) is a French rally driver and winner, with co-driver Daniel Elena, of the World Rally Driver's Championship title in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 and of a record ten World Rallies in 2005. Loeb has the most WRC wins with 41 and is one of the most successful rally drivers in history. He is also a two-time winner at the Race of Champions, after taking home the Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy and the title "Champion of Champions" in 2003 and 2005. In 2004, he won the Nations' Cup for France with Jean Alesi.
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[edit] Career
[edit] Early career
Loeb was born in Haguenau, Alsace, and grew up in Oberhoffen-sur-Moder. Sébastien Loeb competed as gymnast and became 4 times Alsatian champion, once champion of the French Grand East, and 5th in the French Championship.[1]
In 1995, at age 21, he turned his interests to racing. In 1998, he started entering events in the French Citroën Saxo Trophy series, winning the title in 1999. Guy Fréquelin, Citroën Sport's Team Principal, would serve as Loeb's mentor as he entered the Junior World Rally Championship, which he conquered in 2001. During this year, he was also released for participation in one World Rally Championship event in the Citroën Xsara, where in Sanremo he surprisingly hounded Peugeot tarmac wizard and eventual victor Gilles Panizzi to the finish.
[edit] 2002–2003
2002 would be Loeb's first season as a WRC driver with the Citroën Total World Rally Team, although the team only disputed a limited number of rounds in the build-up to their full entry the following year. He won the Rally Germany, the first event of his flourishing career, although on road he also won the season-opening Rally Monte Carlo. His victory was taken away by a controversial time penalty after the last stage, which gave victory to second placed Tommi Mäkinen.
In 2003, his first full season in the championship, Loeb won three WRC events before losing to Petter Solberg in Wales Rally Great Britain and also losing the championship to Solberg by just one point. Loeb's reputation grew as he defeated his more illustrious team mates - Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae - over the course of the season.
[edit] 2004
In 2004, Loeb dominated the WRC-scene in a similar way to the Michael Schumacher domination of Formula One the same year, by winning six events and earning many podium finishes in other events to securely give him the driver's title. He was also responsible for Citroën's second manufacturer's title in a row.
Originally known as a tarmac specialist, 2004 was the year he proved to the world he could do it all. He won the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, becoming the first non-Nordic to win the event. He also won many gravel and tarmac rallies such as Telstra Rally Australia and Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo . Loeb's six WRC victories tied the record for victories in one season with fellow Frenchman Didier Auriol, who won six events in 1990.
[edit] 2005
In 2005, with victory in the 9th round (Argentinian Rally), Loeb became the first to win six consecutive rallies, and the first to win seven in a season, having already won the opening Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo . He was in a position to clinch the title while leading Wales Rally Great Britain, but after it was announced that the last two stages of the rally would be abandoned due to the death of Michael Park in an accident on stage 15, Loeb deliberately incurred a two minute penalty to drop him to third place and avoid retaining his title in such circumstances.
He won all twelve stages in the 2005 Rallye de France, another record, the first time a driver had won every stage of a WRC rally. This was his ninth victory of the year, and victory on Rally Catalunya in Spain made his number of 2005 victories 10, beating his (and Didier Auriol's) own record of six wins in a season.
In 2005, he also participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the team of the Pescarolo Sport n° 17. Reportedly Loeb did much of his preparation for the race by running practice laps around the circuit in the Sony PlayStation 2 video game Gran Turismo 4 aboard a private jet. In the race the car was plagued by incidents, but Loeb proved to be able to drive fast for his first race on a closed track.
Finally, he also won the individual title Champion of Champions in the 2005 Race of Champions.
[edit] 2006
Citroën's parent company, PSA Peugeot Citroën, pulled both companies out of the WRC at the end of 2005, but Citroën planned to come back in 2007 with the Citroën C4 WRC, and developed the car during 2006. Loeb was closely involved with this as he was guaranteed the leading role in the team at the come back. In the meantime, a 'gap year' beckoned in the privateer ranks, namely with Kronos Citroën. Despite driving a car at the end of its potential, he showed that he was still Le Patron (the Boss), by dominating the season and winning a third title with the Xsara.
In order to score on the first round in Monte Carlo, however, he was initially forced to activate the SupeRally rules for retiring competitors, having spun off the road on Leg 1. Although he did manage to claw back 2nd place in the Principality, it was the first time he had ever been beaten to the finish (namely by fellow double-time champion Marcus Grönholm) on these roads in the Xsara WRC. This outcome was mirrored on the following month's Swedish Rally, with Grönholm again the man to whom Loeb was forced to give best, placing the duo in an early runaway 1-2 position in the points standings.
But the Frenchman's bridesmaid status was not to last, and racking up a triumph on the ensuing Corona Rally Mexico - the first of five on the trot that season - propelled him into a championship lead he was never to lose. He tied Carlos Sainz's record number of 26 individual rally victories in August with a fifth consecutive victory in Germany. With his subsequent victory in Japan, the world record of 27 victories and counting eventually became his. His victory in Cyprus put him on the verge of a third consecutive World Rally Championship title. Shortly after Loeb broke his right humerus in a mountain-biking accident near his home in Switzerland and missed the rallies in Turkey and Australia. In spite of this, Loeb had accumulated such a huge point lead before Turkey that Marcus Grönholm's failure to finish third or better in Australia handed Loeb the 2006 championship crown. He received the news at home via an Internet video link to the race grounds. Due to the time difference, he made do with early morning coffee instead of the customary champagne, calling the whole experience "strange".[citation needed]
Loeb finished second overall in the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Pescarolo-Judd, between the two Diesel-powered Audi R10.
[edit] 2007
For 2007, Sébastien Loeb returned as an official Citroën driver, with the new Citroën C4 WRC. He won the 75ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo, the first race for the new C4, following that up with a solid second place after Grönholm, in Sweden, to set up a two-point lead over the Finn after two of 16 rounds. At the first Rally Norway, Loeb went off and lost eight minutes during SS12 while chasing Grönholm and the leader, Mikko Hirvonen. On the next stage, he made another mistake and lost nine minutes. He eventually finished 14th in the rally and dropped to third in the championship standings. He won 8 of the 18 stages in this rally. Loeb won the next rally, the 21º Corona Rally México, 55.8 seconds clear of Grönholm.
He then followed this success up with his third and fourth season victories on the Portugese and Argentinian rallies. Characteristically, he was once more to be found in the lead on the seventh round, the Rally d' Italia in Sardinia. On new stages on the final leg to those of the previous year, however, Loeb was once more to lament error and the surrender of probable victory, this time after crashing and breaking his suspension in a ditch. He left the lead in the hands of Grönholm, who won to propel himself seven points ahead of Loeb at the top of the championship standings. A second loss to the Finn in as many years on the Acropolis Rally then extended the deficit to nine points over the championship's summer break.
Loeb occupied his recess by, amongst other engagements, competing in the Shell Donegal International Rally on the 15th, 16th and 17th of June, partially as preparation for the coming Rally Ireland world championship round that November. He scored a comprehensive victory, albeit only after being given a scare by the pace of tenacious private Subaru-mounted Mark Higgins. Punctures afflicted upon his rival eventually settled the contest.
Ambitions of finally scoring victory on Rally Finland proved once more unrealized, with Loeb relegated to third place behind the pacy natives Grönholm and Hirvonen. Rallye Deutschland, as was traditional, differed somewhat. Although, at the scene of his first victory and on a rally where he had never subsequently lost, Loeb was left unexpectedly to fend off the challenge not of the Finn, but of a privateer, his one-time team-mate and championship returnee François Duval, he came to eventually triumph, reducing some of his championship points deficit.
A very close battle on the gravel stages of Rally New Zealand ended with the closest second place in the whole of World Rally history - Loeb finished only 0.3 s behind his main rival. The next two rounds, hovewer, allowed the French driver to regain some points, as he won both tarmac events - Rallye Espana, where his teammate Danni Sordo additionaly took second place and two points from Grönholm, and Rally France.
Rally Japan was another dramatic event - Loeb got the chance to take the lead in Championship after Grönholm's early mistake,[2] but he wasn't able to, as his co-driver mistake caused the C4 to go off road on one of the stages of second leg. Both drivers ended with no points after finally retiring from the event.[3] In Ireland, during 1st Rally Ireland almost the same story happened - Marcus Grönholm overcooked a slippery right corner on one of the early stages, trying to keep a fast pace, and had to retire from the rally. Loeb made use of his rival's mistake and, by making no major mistakes, although having some suspension-related problems with keeping pace at the beginning,[4] he added 10 points to his account, moving ahead of Finnish driver just one round before the seasons end. In Wales he wasn't fighting for the win, focusing mostly on securing his advantage, finishing the event third - on 2 December, 2007 Loeb became World Rally Champion for the fourth time in a row.[5]
[edit] 2008
Loeb started the 2008 season with a record fifth win in Monte Carlo.[6] On the second rally of the year, 2008 Swedish Rally, Loeb crashed out during day one. Although he re-joined the rally to collect manufacturers' points, the team later decided to retire him due to a damaged engine.
[edit] WRC victories (41)
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# Event Season Co-driver Car 1 
21. ADAC Rallye Deutschland2002 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 2 
71ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo2003 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 3 22. ADAC Rallye Deutschland2003 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 4 
45º Rallye Sanremo - Rallye d'Italia2003 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 5 72ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo2004 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 6 
53rd Uddeholm Swedish Rally2004 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 7 
32nd Cyprus Rally2004 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 8 
5th Rally of Turkey2004 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 9 23. OMV ADAC Rallye Deutschland2004 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 10 
17th Telstra Rally Australia2004 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 11 73ème Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo2005 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 12 
35th Propecia Rally New Zealand2005 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 13 2º Supermag Rally Italia Sardinia2005 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 14 33rd Cyprus Rally2005 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 15 6th Rally of Turkey2005 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 16 
52nd Acropolis Rally2005 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 17 
25º Rally Argentina2005 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 18 24. OMV ADAC Rallye Deutschland2005 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 19 
49ème Tour de Corse - Rallye de France2005 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 20 
41º Rally RACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada2005 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 21 
20º Corona Rally México2006 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 22 42º Rally RACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada2006 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 23 50ème Tour de Corse - Rallye de France2006 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 24 26º Rally Argentina2006 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 25 3º Supermag Rally Italia Sardinia2006 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 26 25. OMV ADAC Rallye Deutschland2006 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 27 
3rd Rally Japan2006 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 28 34th Cyprus Rally2006 Daniel Elena Citroën Xsara WRC 29 75ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo2007 Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 30 21º Corona Rally México2007 Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 31 
41º Vodafone Rally de Portugal2007 Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 32 27º Rally Argentina2007 Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 33 26. ADAC Rallye Deutschland2007 Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 34 43º Rally RACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada2007 Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 35 51ème Tour de Corse - Rallye de France2007 Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 36 
1st Rally Ireland2007 Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 37 76ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo2008 Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 38 22º Corona Rally México2008 Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 39 28º Rally Argentina2008 Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 40 5º Supermag Rally Italia Sardinia2008 Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 41 55th BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally2008 Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC
- Loeb provisionally won the Monte Carlo event in 2002 but was later docked two minutes for an illegal tire change and demoted to second place.
- Loeb's win at Rally Deutschland 2007 was his sixth consecutive victory there, which is a record in itself as Loeb is the only rally driver in history to win a rally six consecutive times, the previous record which he in 2006 tied with Tommi Makinen who had 5 consecutive wins at Rally Finland. He is the only driver to win the rally since its inauguration in 2002.
[edit] References
- ^ Sébastien Loeb's Official Website - biography (html). Retrieved on 2007-11-28.
- ^ NEWS FLASH: Gronholm goes off road. (html) (2007-10-26). Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
- ^ NEWS FLASH: Loeb out again [updated] (html) (2007-10-28). Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
- ^ Sordo top. (html) (2007-11-16). Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
- ^ Loeb lands fourth straight title. (html) (2007-12-02). Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
- ^ Loeb clinches record Monte win. Autosport. Retrieved on 2008-01-27.
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