profile

Sébastien Loeb - Citroen Total WRT

NATIONALITY: French DOB: 26/02/1974 TEAM: Citroen Total World Rally Team CO-DRIVER: Daniel Elena WRC STATS (to end of 2006) TITLES: 2004, 2005, 2006 WINS: 28 POINTS: 452 DEBUT: Corsica 1999 FIRST WIN: Germany 2002 CAREER HIGHLIGHTS 2006: Third consecutive WRC title with Kronos Total Citroen WRT - 8 victories 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: French gravel title 1999: Citroen Saxo Trophy champion 1998: Two wins in Citroen Saxo Trophy

Sebastien Loeb is the Michael Schumacher of rallying. Both are glacially cool, totally focused and sublimely quick in all conditions. Loeb's ascension 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, one-make 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 privateer Citroen Xsara WRC for 2006, as the French marque took a sabbatical before its return this year. 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 bested the record for all-time career victories set by Carlos Sainz. In 2007, Loeb is back with Citroen Sport driving the new C4 WRC. Although it's a new car, don't expect this to get in the way of the Frenchman on his search for a fourth consecutive crown.