While most 47-year old men grow dad bods and settle for seeing off their offspring to college, Sébastien Loeb would rather come out of his World Rally Championship retirement to compete at the top level of rallying and win. Again.
At the recently concluded Monte Carlo Rallye, the first event of the 2022 season, Loeb showed everyone that his decade-long retirement from full-season rallying has not taken a toll on his skills, nor his desire to win.
At 47, his victory on Sunday gave him the title of being the oldest winner of a WRC championship event. This also further cements his already legendary legacy in the sport with a haul of records that now seem insurmountable – most event wins at 80, most podium finishes at 120, and most stage wins at 931 are among the easily notable.
With 9 WRC Driver’s titles already under his belt, the most of any driver in the sport’s history and won consecutively from 2004 to 2012, one can argue that he is the best rally driver of all time. Surely at least, the most successful WRC driver by far.
Born in February 26, 1974 in Haguenau, Bas Rhin, France, Loeb would grow up to compete in the French national gymnastics championships first. And his haul of 5 gold medals during this time meant his competitiveness was ingrained all along.
By the time he was 15, he decided to move into the world of rally racing. As he went up the various rally events, Loeb would bag successive titles in different classes from 1999 to 2001 and capture the eye of Citroën rally team boss Guy Fréquelin.
“He is special as a driver,” Says Fréquelin in a WRC web interview. “The way he drives the car is perfect, he doesn’t give the car stress, he keeps it all the time straight – he has real balance in the car.”
Citroën gave Loeb the car to begin his legendary top flight career in 2002. In his first full WRC season in 2003, he won three events and finished second in the championship, one point shy of the title. In 2004, however, he bagged six wins to take his first WRC championship title. In 2005 he became even more dominant with 10 wins, also becoming the first driver to win 6 events in a row.
All of Loeb’s nine WRC titles were made possible in a Citroën. Three different models in fact. A French car piloted by a French Legion of Honour awardee driver, that is the perfect movie script right there.
His three “Champion of Champions” trophies at the 2003, 2005 and 2008 Race of Champions events saw him compete and win against other equally notable and legendary names in motorsports and racing. So you can clearly see Loeb is in a different league altogether.
While Loeb will not be competing the full 2022 WRC season, it would still be a joy to watch and admire the talent and skill that has taken him to the top of the figurative mountain. Whether it’s the Dakar Rally, which he finished second this year by the way, just before Monte Carlo, or rallycross, or even World Touring Car, Le Mans, and other sports car series, watching this man in action even for a brief moment will be a truly once in a lifetime experience.
