Fast facts:
Nationality:
French
Date of birth:
26/02/1974
Team:
Citroen Total World Rally Team
Co-driver:
Daniel Elena
World Titles:
FIA World Driver Champion 2004, 2005, 2006 & 2007. FIA Super 1600 Drivers' Cup Champion in 2001
WRC debut:
Corsica 1999
WRC wins:
47 (after GB)
WRC points at end of 2007:
568
First WRC win:
Germany 2002
Website:
www.sebastienloeb.com
Sebastien Loeb is the Michael Schumacher of rallying. Both are glacially cool, totally focussed and sublimely quick in all conditions. Loeb's rise to stardom has been even more rapid than Schumacher's rise in Formula 1, however. In his first full year in 2003, Loeb almost took the title. In his second year, he easily clinched the crown with a record-matching six wins. In his third, he broke all records with 10 wins (including six in a row) to truly seal his reputation as rallying's top dog. 2006 saw him take his third consecutive title without even contesting the last four rounds of the championship because of an injured arm.
Despite a background as an acrobat, Loeb developed a bug for rallying. In 1998 he took two wins in the French Citroen Saxo Trophy series before securing the title the following year. He was nurtured by the French team and its figurehead, rally legend Guy Frequelin, through the French national series and the Junior Super 1600 class of the WRC, which he won in 2001. At the same time he contested several WRC events in Citroen's Xsara WRC, proving to be just as adept at the top level.
In 2002 Loeb scored his first WRC win in Germany, but over 2003 and 2004 rapidly developed his speed and consistency on gravel and snow, and is now an all-round performer with wins on all surface types. He proved his class in 2003 by chasing Subaru's Petter Solberg to the title until the final round, and went one better in 2004 with a performance that was one of the best of recent years. No-one expected the domination of 2005, though, as he broke record after record and proved himself to be one of rallying's all-time greats.
Loeb was relegated to a private team Citroen Xsara WRC for 2006, as the French marque took a sabbatical before its return in 2007. The Frenchman, however, took a third consecutive drivers' title with Kronos Racing and achieved the status of the most successful rally driver in history when he beat the record for career victories set by Carlos Sainz.
In 2007, Loeb was back with Citroen Sport driving the new C4 WRC. Although it was a new car, this didn?t get in the way of the Frenchman as he drove to a fourth consecutive crown.
Video Sebastien Loeb
Career highlights:
2007: Fourth title.
2006: Injured after a fall from a mountain bike but still gained his third consecutive WRC title.
2005: Record-setting run to second title with Citroen, scoring 10 wins (including six in a row)
2004: Wins WRC title with six wins for Citroen
2003: Runner-up in WRC with three wins for Citroen
2002: Wins in Germany in WRC with Citroen
2001: Wins FIA Super 1600 championship with Citroen
2000: Two
-wheel drive class French gravel title1999: Citroen Saxo Trophy champion
1998: Two wins in Citroen Saxo Trophy
0 comments:
Post a Comment