SéBASTIEN LOEB

'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 and 2006 and of a record ten World Rallies in 2005. Loeb has the most WRC wins with 33 and is one of the most successful rallymen 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.
Late in the 2006 season, 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 points 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".

Contents

Career

Debuts

World champion (2004)

A record season (2005)

''Le Patron'' (2006)

Current season (2007)

WRC Victories

References

External links

Career

Debuts

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 as an adult. 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.
2002 would be Loeb's first full season as a WRC driver with Citroën, 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.

World champion (2004)

In 2004, Loeb dominated the WRC-scene in a similar way to the Michael Schumacher domination of Formula One from 2000 to 2004, 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-Scandinavian 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.

A record season (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.

''Le Patron'' (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. Those five consecutive victories have also edged him close to Carlos Sainz's record number of 26 individual rally victories, which he finally tied 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, which was secured with Grönholm failing to take enough points in Australia to theoretically challenge Loeb's lead, even despite the fact that Loeb had broken his arm while mountainbiking, forcing him out of the final third of the season.
Loeb finished second overall in the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Pescarolo-Judd, between the two Diesel-powered Audi R10.

Current season (2007)

In 2007, Sébastien Loeb is again 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 won the following rallye, the 2007 Vodafone Rally de Portugal, confirming that he was still to be counted with. His next win was the Rally Argentina. Round 7 was the Rally d' Italia in Sardinia. After trailing on much of leg 1, Loeb went on the clinch the final stages of the day and lead the overall rally by twenty two seconds. He further extended his lead on leg 2 and went thirty seven seconds clear of the field. Leg 3 proved to be Loeb's downfall. On new stages to that of 2006, Loeb made an uncharacterised mistake by coming into a corner too fast, he lost control and hit a ditch twice as he attempted to control the car. This consequently broke his suspension and he had to retire on the first stage of leg 3. This handed the lead and win to Grönholm, who jumped to the top of the championship standings leading Loeb by seven points. A second loss to the Finn in as many years on the Acropolis Rally extended the deficit to nine points over the championship's summer break.He also competed in the Shell Donegal International Rally on the 15th, 16th and 17th of June ahead of Rally Ireland in November, where he scored a comprehensive victory by 2minutes and 7 seconds ahead of Mark Higgins in a privately run Subaru. Higgins lead until day two where he had a number of punctures. Rally Finland proved to be another elusive victory as Loeb had to settle for 3rd place, as he couldn't match the pace set by Gronholm and Hirvonen throughout the 3 days of the rally. Rallye Deutschland was somewhat different to Finland. Even though Loeb lead his main championship rival Gronholm on the first day, Loeb had to settle for 2nd place with Duval, who was driving for OMV Kronos leading him by 1.5 seconds. But mistakes in the morning stages on leg 2 handed the lead to Loeb who further extended it and maintained it, giving him the victory.

WRC Victories

:

#	Event	Season	Co-driver	Car
1	21. ADAC Rallye Deutschland	2002	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
2	71ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo	2003	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
3	22. ADAC Rallye Deutschland	2003	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
4	45º Rallye Sanremo - Rallye d'Italia	2003	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
5	72ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo	2004	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
6	53rd Uddeholm Swedish Rally	2004	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
7	32nd Cyprus Rally	2004	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
8	5th Rally of Turkey	2004	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
9	23. OMV ADAC Rallye Deutschland	2004	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
10	17th Telstra Rally Australia	2004	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
11	73ème Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo	2005	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
12	35th Propecia Rally New Zealand	2005	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
13	2º Supermag Rally Italia Sardinia	2005	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
14	33rd Cyprus Rally	2005	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
15	6th Rally of Turkey	2005	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
16	52nd Acropolis Rally	2005	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
17	25º Rally Argentina	2005	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
18	24. OMV ADAC Rallye Deutschland	2005	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
19	49ème Tour de Corse - Rallye de France	2005	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
20	41º Rally RACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada	2005	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
21	20º Corona Rally México	2006	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
22	42º Rally RACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada	2006	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
23	50ème Tour de Corse - Rallye de France	2006	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
24	26º Rally Argentina	2006	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
25	3º Supermag Rally Italia Sardinia	2006	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
26	25. OMV ADAC Rallye Deutschland	2006	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
27	3rd Rally Japan	2006	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
28	34th Cyprus Rally	2006	Daniel Elena	Citröen Xsara WRC
29	75ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo	2007	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC
30	21º Corona Rally México	2007	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC
31	41º Vodafone Rally de Portugal	2007	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC
32	27º Rally Argentina	2007	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC
33	26. ADAC Rallye Deutschland	2007	Daniel Elena	Citroën C4 WRC

★ Loeb provisionally won the Monte Carlo event in 2002 but was later docked two minutes for an illegal tyre change and demoted to second place.

★ Loeb's win at Rallye Deustchland 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 tied with in 2006 was with Tommi Makinen who had 5 consequetive wins at Rally Finland. He is the only driver to win the rally since its inauguration in 2002.

References

1. [1]

External links

★ Official web site

★ News release - Citroën back in 2007

★ Photos of Loeb after winning 2007 Monte Carlo Rally

★ FIA World Rally Championship web site