Sebastien Loeb
Loeb and Citroen back on top at Rally of Mexico
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March 12, 2007 Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) took the Rally of Mexico today to become the first driver of the season to win two races, moving his own points score to within 4 points of Marcus Gronholm’s lead in the drivers' standings. Loeb’s 30th career victory was the first win on gravel for the new C4 car and he maintains an air of invincibility in the title chase. In the manufacturers title, a double podium by the BP-Ford World Rally Team saw it defend its sizeable points lead. Marcus Gronholm and Timo Rautiainen finished second in a Ford Focus RS World Rally Car on the demanding three-day gravel event in the mountains of central Mexico, while team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen were third in another Focus RS. As the first gravel round of the season, the dominant surface of the championship, Rally Mexico was viewed as the first true form guide for the year. Drivers tackled 20 speed tests covering 366.06km over dusty gravel tracks north and east of the rally base in León. The special stages climbed to more than 2700m and the thinner air at that altitude made it hard for engines to 'breathe'. As a result power output was reduced by about 30 per cent on usual levels. Read More
Sebastien Loeb becomes the world’s most successful rally driver
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September 6, 2006 When Sebastien Loeb narrowly held out Marcus Gronholm to win the Rally of Japan last Sunday, he became the most successful rally driver in history. His 27th career victory edged the double World Rally Champion past former Citroen driver Carlos Sainz and into the record books once again. Unbelievably Loeb only made his WRC debut in 2002 and has taken just four seasons to overtake the success of rally legend Sainz. Along the way, it’s been a tour de force, as he now holds the record for the most consecutive victories, and last year performed what many people consider to be his most astounding feat – winning every stage in a World Championship Rally. This year the Frenchman has demonstrated his versatility winning the Race of Champions (December) and finishing in second place in the Le Mans 24 Hour Race.
Citroen and Loeb in WRC Rally of Corsica
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April 10, 2006 Citroen’s World Champion, Sebastien Loeb has extended his lead in the 2006 World Rally Championship after another commanding win, notching up his 23rd WRC win at the weekend in the French round, the Rally of Corsica, with Loeb joined on the podium by fellow Citroen driver Dani Sordo. What makes the result even more remarkable is the fact that Citroen is dominating the 2006 World Rally Championship with a two year old car, built for the previous rule regime and modified for the ’06 season, while its rivals are running their latest designs. Second in the event and now a clear second in the title chase, BP-Ford World Rally Team drivers Marcus Gronholm and Timo Rautiainen claimed their fourth podium finish in five rallies by finishing second on the Rallye de France Tour de Corse. Read More
Citroen and Loeb take the WRC lead after Mexican victory
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March 6, 2006 It seemed inevitable that Sebastien Loeb would find his way back to the head of 2006 world rankings following a 2005 season that was the most dominant on record. Following a win in the third round of the WRC in Mexico, Loeb has now regained the series lead and it would be a brave move to bet against him for the title. In the end, the Citroen driver had a thrilling fight to the finish with Subaru’s Petter Solberg to finally take the Rally of Mexico at the weekend (3-5 March 2006). Loeb got off to a steady start on Friday sweeping the roads clean for the benefit of Petter Solberg amongst others, but still hung on grimly to limit the deficit to just a half a minute. The next step was to make up the time lost, reducing the gap to a combative Solberg. It was only on Saturday night, after SS13, that Seb found any sort of breathing space after very tightly fought battle with Subaru driver that turned the event into a two horse race. The final phase of the victory plan, which took place on Sunday, consisted of a precise control of the lead, a painstaking task in which Loeb excels. All victories taste sweet, but for Seb – sheltering under a sombrero at the finish – this one was special. BTW - they obviously love their rallying in Mexico - check out the image library for some scary shots, not to mention the main shot of Seb getting big air just a few feet from the spectators. Read More
Another Citroen/Loeb World Record - winning every stage in a WRC event
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October 24, 2005 That's right - it's not a mistake. Sebastien Loeb won every stage of the Rally of France of the weekend. The 2005 World Rally Championship has already seen Loeb and his Citroen set world records for most wins in one season and most consecutive wins, but Loeb’s latest effort has added a new and quite extraordinary record at the weekend's (21-23 October 2005) Rally of France: the first time one driver has set the fastest time on every single stage in a World Championship Rally! Loeb made no secret of the fact that with his second world title in the bag, he wanted to win his home (French) event for the first time and he did it in a crushing manner. So crushing that it's hard to imagine it ever being repeated. Read More
WRC Japan: Loeb and Citroen take World Rally Championship
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October 2, 2005 Frenchman Sebastien Loeb and his Citroen Xsara took the FIA World Rally Championship today, finishing second to a resurgent Marcus Gronholm’s Peugeot 307 and extending his points lead to 36 points with three events still to run in the championship series. After leading the rally for all but two stages, Subaru’s Petter Solberg was robbed of victory in the penultimate stage when he hit a rock and broke the Subaru’s steering. Victory therefore landed in the lap of Marcus Gronholm, his second win of the season. Loeb only needed to finish third, regardless of rivals’ positions around him, and drove the rally required to secure his second title. Subaru’s Chris Atkinson drove to third, his best-ever result, while Francois Duval claimed fourth ahead of Mitsubishi driver Harri Rovanpera. Ford maintained its record of scoring on each round; Toni Gardemeister and Roman Kresta finishing sixth and seventh respectively to claim Ford’s 57th consecutive points-scoring finish. Daniel Carlsson, stepping in for Markko Martin, rounded off the top eight. Read More
German WRC: Loeb leads Citroen 1-2
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August 29, 2005 Citroen notched up its first one-two of the season yesterday with Sebastien Loeb claiming his eighth victory of the season and extending his lead at the head of the Drivers’ Championship to 32 points with five events remaining. It is also the Frenchman’s fourth consecutive win in Germany. Team-mate Francois Duval repaid the team’s faith by claiming second, 37.4 seconds adrift of the reigning World Champion. Marcus Gronholm, winner of his home event in Finland, finished on the podium in third to retain second in the series. Read More
WRC Rally Finland: Gronholm and Peugeot break Loeb/Citroen winning run
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August 7, 2005 Peugeot’s Marcus Gronholm has taken a magnificent fifth victory in his native Rally Finland, his seventeenth WRC win in his career, and boosted himself to second in the drivers' championship. Team-mate Markko Martin completed a great team result to end the rally in third place, less than 30 seconds behind runaway championship leader Sebastien Loeb who finished second. Peugeot’s strong team showing has enabled the marque to retake the lead of the Manufacturers Championship by a single championship point over Citroen. Read More
WRC: Citroen and Loeb continue record smashing spree
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July 17, 2005 Sebastien Loeb and Citroen broke a number of rallying's world records with a dominant performance in the Argentinean round of the World Rally Championship at the weekend (15-17 July 2005) giving them the record for the most consecutive wins in a season (six) and, adding their win in the Monte Carlo season-opener, the most wins in one season … with seven more rounds to come. Loeb, who just a short few years ago was dismissed as a tarmac-only expert, has set the records on six out of seven gravel events so we can expect more wins and more records as the season unfolds. Read More
WRC Turkey: Loeb and Citroen again
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June 5, 2005 Citroen continued its crushing domination of the 2005 World Rally Championship at the weekend with Sebastien Loeb's fourth win in a row after his complete domination of the Turkish round of the championship in his Citroen Xsara at the weekend (3-5 June 2005). Citroen has now won three Rallies of Turkey, Loeb has extended his world championship lead and with Carlos Sainz being brought out of retirement to bolster the speed of the second car finishing in fourth place, Citroen's bid to retain its manufacturer's title is back on track as it moved to within four points of leader Peugeot (72 points). Read More
WRC Rd 6 - Cypress Rally: Loeb wins and sets up title
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May 15, 2005 Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb collected his third consecutive win in Cyprus, and his fourth of the 2005 season to take a significant points lead in the World Rally Championship. This weekend's success – the crew's fourteenth at WRC level – takes the defending champion 11 points clear at the top of the provisional Drivers' World Championship standings thanks to the failure of Subaru’s Petter Solberg, Loeb’s main rival for the title.
WRC Rd 5 - Loeb takes the lead
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May 1, 2005 Sebastien Loeb dominated the Italian round of the World Rally Championship at the weekend (29 April - 1 May), guiding his Citroen Xsara to victory over Petter Solberg by nearly a minute and in the process taking over the lead in the World Rally Championship from the Subaru driver. Loeb's domination of the rally of Sardinia - he lead from stage three to the end of the event and scored twice as many stage wins as his nearest rival - was achieved through the reliability of his Citroen Xsara, an excellent choice of tyres and a skilful and well paced drive from the Frenchman. Team mate Francois Duval managed to score manufacturers points despite a first-day roll off the track into the bush that left his Xsara on its side and minus a rear wheel. Following repairs and a re-start, he went on to finish in 11th place. Read More
WRC Rd 4: Loeb wins, Solberg leads title, Peugeot extends lead
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April 10, 2005 With a near perfect performance in New Zealand, Citroen and Sebastien Loeb dominated the fourth round of the World Rally championship at the weekend (8-10 April 2005) leading the event from stage three to the finish in his Citroen Xsara WRC and again taking outright favouritism for the drivers championship.
Loeb’s team-mate Francois Duval took fourth place, giving Citroen a bumper points haul and taking the team into second place in the manufacturers title, but with Peugeot’s Marcus Gronholm taking second and Markko Martin in fifth, Peugeot scooted further ahead in the quest for the constructors crown.
LOEB ENDS 2004 ON THE WINNER'S PODIUM!
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November 14, 2004 Citroën's Sebastien Loeb started the 2004 season by winning the Monte Carlo Rally and he has finished it the same way, winning the Telstra Rally Australia at the weekend (11-14 November 2004).
The victory takes his season total to six wins, matching the world record set by fellow Frenchman Didier Auriol exactly ten years ago and provides a perfect end to the season that saw Loeb win the World Championship Drivers' title and Citroën take its second successive manufacturers title with the Citroën Xsara WRC. Read More
