Indeed, I live just next to Haguenau, and back then there was at least one or two person that were driving around in a Xsara modified to be some sort of WRC Replica
@lucwal67 it was a crazy period, Citroën were not really known for their rally prowess and Loeb came in and wiped the floor with the competiton and went on to other championships showing he wasn't just a right guy right car kinda thing.
We see that we are on a current US channel, so not really a specialist in the world of Rallies... A team in Rally is a driver, it's a car and its technical team, ok, but how can we forget such an important player in Rally? In Rally to win a driver needs a co-driver! A co-driver who allows the driver to exploit his talent at 100%. A victory in Rally is not a driver alone, it's a duo, it's a DRIVER + CO-DRIVER crew and a great osmosis between the two! And there throughout these 20 minutes of video on the Great Loeb, not a word and not a picture about his great co-driver who accompanied him throughout his career in WRC and their 9 World Champion titles... I therefore quote him to also pay tribute to DANIEL ELENA, the Monegasque co-driver 9 times FIA World Rally Champion with SEBASTIEN LOEB! 👏👏
YES! I may be an American, but when Speedvision existed, I had the pleasure of watching the World Rally Championship. I got to see and appreciate how Colin McRae and his great co-driver, Nicky Grist, worked together. Their teamwork was a thing of BEAUTY!
The fact that he didn’t have enough super license points for F1 is crazy. It’s so dumb how that system works that a 9 time world champion in WRC can’t compete in F1
Next one who might show such dominance in the sport is Rovanperä, and while I'm quite happy as finnish rally fan to see a countryman miles before the rest, I'm quite worried what a yet another dominant era will do for the sport. I don't really see anyone realistically challenging him in the near future. Might be there are some stars coming up in abroad rallying scene, but so far I'm kinda not seeing anyone.
@@Pyllymysliafter Sami Pajari & Enni Mälkönen performed so well in the Rally Finland a week ago, for the first time in the WRC car, I do hope Kalle & moto world will see some adequate competitor at least...
Loeb is hands down the best overall race driver ever, ive been watching motorsport since the late 80s, F1 has had some greats but Rally is just different it has almost zero margin for error and takes BALLS the size watermelons.
Have you seen Verstappen's 2023 Q3 run in Monaco? The car was so close to the guardrails, you couldn't fit a piece of paper between them and the wheels because sometimes, it was quite literally gently squeezing them. Also zero margin for error. Loeb is an absolute legend with question, and certainly part of the elite within the elite, but there are far too many variables to determine "the best ever".
I'd rate Jim Clark as better. No rally domination, but just about every other class. Before anyone says anything about that, Seb didn't dominate F1, either.
@@supercededman oooooooffffffff Clark is a fair shout. i just rate rally as harder than just about any other racing, of course the drivers know the road but its not the same as a track where they get to do the same few corners over and over till they are perfect. rally was always the one type of racing i wanted to do but i would wrap myself around a tree by the 3rd corner.
@@uncle_pompom Yeah, Seb is something special, and I admire the incredible skill of rally drivers. I'm 63, and have followed motorsport for over 50 years, seen many incredible drivers across a number of disciplines. I'm in awe, particularly, of Carlos Sainz Sr. At age 61 to win the Dakar, after already achieving so much. Before him, even, the days of Group B - absolute insanity. I race on Gran Turismo, and love the rally tracks, but I'm hopeless. Nonetheless, it gives me an appreciation for the masterful skills of rally drivers.
The WRC came past my house once.... there were some fast drivers. Then sebastian loeb came past. It wasnt even comparable. Guy was literally absolutely flying.
Imho the coolest thing about this man is, that he was actually just a normal dude. He knew a thing or two about real life outside of motorsports glory. You can't say the same about most other drivers such as Max Verstappen.
Don't forget that between he started and left, there was a big economic downfall in 2008. That's part of why some brands (Subaru and Suzuki) left the WRC. The others left simply due to their lack of success. Seat was gone by the time Loeb really arrived, so was Hyundai. Škoda left in 2005 after multiple seasons without a decent result and Mitsubishi was on a major downfall since 2001. Also, already in 2013, Volkswagen and Hyundai joined the sport, planning to do so way before Loeb announced his retirement. There are a few mistakes in this video, for example when you talked about the Xsara WRC, you often showed the Xsara Kit Car. It should also be noted that the year Loeb raced in Pikes Peak was the first year when the whole Pikes Peak course was paved, which greatly contributed to him smashing the record like that. Before that, some parts of the course were gravel. Just a few more things I'll mention: In 2003, he actually lost the title to Petter Solberg by a single point. That disqualification from Monte Carlo made a big difference there. In 2006, he wasn't actually racing for Citroen's factory team, as the team left the WRC for that one season to focus on developing the C4 WRC. Loeb considered switching to Ford, but instead decided to race for the privately run Kronos Racing team, which ran the Xsara WRC. He won the title despite missing the last 4 rallies of the season with an injury. This was also the first time in many years a private team won a WRC title. I haven't checked myself, but I've heard Loeb went unbeaten on tarmac from 2004 to 2012. Loeb also successfully raced in the Dakar Rally and keeps racing there. He is, however, yet to win it.
You pin pointed most of the things I wanted to point out, especially about the demise of manufacturers in 2008. But Loeb's disqualification in Monte Carlo took place in 2002 season, on a partial campaign aimed at developing and fine tuning the Xsara. I remember it well because it gave Tommi his last win in WRC and 2nd or 3rd win in Monte Carlo. So it had no impact on 2003 season results. What had an impact was two tarmac rallies where Loeb should have been unbeatable but run out of luck. On Tour de Corse he span in the rain and got stuck in vineyard, lost about 14 minutes and any chance of winning. Solberg on the other hand drove his dream rally, equipped with Pirelli's, famous for their outstanding performance on wet when compared to Michelin's and fueled by sport rage after crashing his Impreza on the shakedown. In Catalunya Solberg and Makinen could not keep the pace of the pack, trailing in 8th and 9th positions and it looked that Petter's championship charge was over. Until it rained on the last day allowing Solberg to climb to 4th overall, reigniting his championship bid.
it is not only talent to drive. He himself and his co driver said that he hes extremly good memory to the roads where he drive. he remember details on the roads and close to the roads when his co drived didnt even remember,,, and his driver buddies from the same team don't remember. his words from one of the interviews.
Frankly, I think Loeb in his prime would have always beaten Ogier. But, we'll never surely know that. He certainly beat him in the years they competed against each other.
Seb Loeb is a legend for sure. With Elena, his co driver, they worked on a very efficient system of 'notes' which most of modern pilots use nowadays, Seb Ogier included... Great video ! thanks !
I was born and lived close from his native town, Hagenau. He is a living legend. It is nice to hear someone from far away making a video like this. I want to point that he also participated in the Paris-Dakar rally.
3:07 On this picture it's a road legal Renault 5 Turbo (the Group 4 racing version fought against WRC group B cars in the 80's and in the mid 90's, second hand R5 Turbo were too expensive for a young driver). The Renault 5 GT Turbo (also known as Renault Supercinq GT Turbo) was a way more affordable car (comparable to a Peugeot 205 GTI), the most well known one is featured in the movie "Ali G". The black and the white drag race cars sown later in the video are indeed R5 GT Turbo. About Citroën reliability, I recently had my 1996 Xantia 1.8i SW get its safety inspection (equivalent of MOT) : zero flaw. More recent PSA or Stellantis cars are really unreliable (PureTech engines are a pain in the ass) but my old green box on wheels has never let me down since I got it 16 years ago. 18:47 This isn't a 208 R2 but the 208 T16 Pikes Peak (derived from the 908 Le Mans car) in which Loab won the eponymous hillclimb race. The 208 R2 never had this huge rear wing.
Tom Kristensen actually managed 6 Le Mans wins in a row, from 2000-2005. He, along with teammates Biela and Pirro, also became the first driver trio to three-peat at Le Mans, when they won from 2000-2002
It's a constructive critic. I didn't feel that you love this sport, you are more interested in making pop culture references than talking about this rally legend. But I appreciate you made it 💪
Great video, especially for such a small channel. I am from the same region as Loeb, growing up just 20km away from where he grew up. Here are my 2 cents about the video: - 3:07 that is a R5 Turbo 1, rear engine, rwd, wide body, much more powerful and prestigious than the "normal" small fwd GT Turbo. In the next 2 clips the black and white cars are actually R5 GT Turbos. - You missed an important part at the beginning of his career I feel: 4:00 what you said is somehow correct, he actually won the "volant rallye jeune" but was given a penalty for some weird reason just to make another one win instead, that other driver was local and had support of the organisers of "volant rally jeune" so when he finished 2nd behind Loeb they gave Loeb a unfair penalty to have the other one win instead. Dominique Heintz read about it in the local Alsace newspaper and basically then paid for Loeb to start rallying as he was believing in him and his talent. Without Dominique Heintz there is no Sebastien Loeb in Rallye... - 19:37 I understand why you mentioned Isabelle as it's been 25 years no woman did achieve what she just did. But I think it is a shame you never mentioned about Daniel Elena, who was his co-pilot for his entire WRC career. They both invented a new pace-note system that is used today by all WRC drivers. Awesome video, my opinion is biased as I grew up very nearby Haguenau, but in my mind Loeb is the GOAT of motorsport. It's crazy to think that we were so near to never see him race...
@@Kalastajahml Ummm... no... Kalle Rovanpera is incredible but he's not even close to Sebastian Loeb... Kalle won by a hair last year, Loeb was winning literally almost every rally and was winning the championship by mid season... nobody has made it look so easy as Loeb did...
I remember the first time I saw this guy I could not believe how brilliant he was. I didn't think he would stand the test of time. But seeing him now totally amazes me Well done chap.👍
Loeb defenetly has the most wins , and without taking away from his awesome achievements, and beign the greatest rally driver ever for sure when counting wins. i do think W. Rohrl is the better driver :)
Loeb 's talent is from another planet but....there is a driver that came close to taking him off the throne of WRC and his name again is Sebastien ! Great video but make one about Ogier ,Latvala and Hirvonen the ford drivers that were just unluky to race in the era of Loeb
I wouldn't say that Ogier was unlucky to race in the era of Loeb, in 2011, Ogier's first year as a factory WRC driver, he gave Loeb a huge run for his money and lost out just by a little bit in the end of the season partly because of what can be argued as preferential treatment for Loeb in Citroen. Because of these tensions with Loeb and Citroen, Ogier left the team after 2011 and signed with Volkswagen who were just coming to WRC. VW didn't yet have their WRC car developed at 2012 and so Ogier drove a lower class Skoda Fabia S2000 and Loeb won his last WRC title that year. When VW joined the WRC class in 2013, Loeb had already retired from full-time WRC and only drove in 4 rallies. Ogier smashed the 2013 season and became world champion. So we never really got to witness an all out battle for the championship between Loeb and Ogier with no team orders and politics, which is sad tbh because it would have been epic. No one knows who would have came on top but I think that Ogier was certainly capable of beating Loeb. Hirvonen and Latvala on the other hand, were definitely unlucky to drive during the era of the Sebastiens. They were close but never really up there enough to beat those legends.
@@pro_grapist Ogier didn't win as many championships but he won in 3 different cars, specially that win on M Sport was impressive, since that was a privateer team, shame they never had fair fight against each others. personally I don't rank Loeb's achievements any higher than Ogier
@@HJK242 Ogier can't keep up with youngsters at this very moment at the age of 40 in Toyota, while Loeb was leading every rally he participated at almost 50 years old before M-Sport Puma fell apart. Don't get me wrong I have a lot of admiration for Ogier's career, but Loeb is more complete driver.
@@nmelol today's road order rules make it easy for part time driver's, that's why Ogier also been winning so many events recently. Era when Loeb won his championships there where no rules like that, who knows witch one is better, but rules made it more easy to dominate when Loeb was driving in Citroën
@@nmelol and without all these silly super Sunday, power stage and Saturday point system. Ogier would be leading championship by 18 points, and he didn't even race in 3 event's this year.
There are people who believe the two greatest racing drivers of all time, notwithstanding categories, were Jim Clark and Sébastien Loeb. Other than being geniuses behind the wheel of a racing car, both men shared one important trait as well; they were very humble, very accessible, and sincere. Well, Séb still is, and he can still drive like a ninja angel.
For whoever originally said "dominance is bad for motorsports", it's interesting to compare that to every other sport where dominance is great for the sport in terms of viewership and public interest. I think that the more accurate statement is "dominance is bad for the performance car sales of the non-dominant manufacturers".
This is really well produced and kept my attention throughout the whole thing. Loeb was (and still is) a beast but I didn't know of his full accomplishments until now. Keep doing what you're doing and don't be afraid to cover the two-wheeled side of motorsports aswell. Subbed :)
@@ronaldstreicher2532 No, he wouldn't... because HE DID want to surpass Loeb and he didn't manage to do it... his whole goal was to surpass Loeb from the beginning. Ogier still won 8 championships which is amazing... he's just second best to the guy that made it look so easy that watching the WRC was stupid cause all you needed to know was that Loeb will win... again and again... Loeb was world champion every year and most of them he was world champion by mid season cause he was so far ahead that the others weren't even remotely close to him...
3:07 - that's not a GT Turbo. That's a Renault 5 Turbo, a much different beast. The GT Turbo was an FF layout. A standard looking thing with a turbo engine. This is MR. There is a standard looking 5 a few seconds later in the video.
There's a huge difference between an electrician and an electrical engineer. An engineer has a degree from a technical college then sits at a desk and makes drawings and charts, while a construction electrician goes to a dirt lot every day and installs pipe and wire in the sun and rain until the dirt is covered with a building. He started both but never finished school so was not an engineer.
@@unepintade I don't really know what you mean. They used the word engineer in the video but it was based on this sentence: "Sebastian left high school. He wanted something concrete and found it when he graduated as a construction electrician." From his biography. Clearly not engineering. He was a good gymnast though.
@@BariumCobaltNitrog3n i meant that even if he finished school he couldn't have been a engineer since he was doing an electrician degree and not an engineer one
Loeb is the guy, i he choose F1 instead of Rally, or started with bikes, or in Le Mans in the early 00s. He would be known as the dominator of that series. This guy would win in absolutly everything
The starts aligned , Loeb was born , random life happend and we luckely got to see one if not the best allround motorsport man of all time . put this man in anything with HP and he will challange anyone , ever . thats how good he was. and most likely still is .
GREAT content! Thank you! 🙏 Went straight to my favorites list! And before seeing this video I didn't even realize before, how big of a "Seb Loeb" fan I actually am ! 👌😊
Excellent video love it i'm from loeb's area to be precise loeb at 16 was already stealing family & friends car to ride along the fields and his hometown isn't hageneau but a small village named oberhoffen-sur-moder
one of the speculated reasons behind Loeb's dominance (aside from his insane memory) is his background in gymnastics: for those not in the know, that stuff takes precision, strength, a good bit of endurance and some impressive sense of balance, this very well might've given him the basis to develop a truly exceptional car sense, and the skills/physical characteristics to make use of it
The Citroën was a good car. But Loeb was the key for success. He was just the perfect rally driver. He done I think less than 10 driving errors trough his career. That's why he won always. His driving was flawless. He was I believe the only sportsman ever who got respected by everyone. Everyone agreed on his victories. He won, because he is the GOAT. BTW. He has nothing to do with WRC's fade. Everyone enjoyed the fight between him and Grönholm. Loeb had quit after Magic Marcus retired, because in the last year he felt there is no competition. Subaru, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Skoda, Suzuki all left because money, not because Loeb. Mainly because the "big short'", Hyundai because the management stole the money. Then Ogier was dominating the scene, because what Loeb has see beforehand. No competition. This doesn't means Ogier is not good, he is great. The only who was able to beat Loeb fair and square. But he raced against newbies and hopeless drivers like Sordo, Latvala, etc.
He also had a.go.in WTCC with citroen ( of course) driving very well and finishing runner up both seasons to the magnificent Lopez ( this guy was just amazing, one of the guys that should be in F1 now).
If he went for a tenth consecutive title then he could have "killed interest" in the sport as there would be nothing new In him winning. (as I am scandinavian & was strongly biased towards gronholm In the 2000s then I despiced Loeb) He Is a great driver there Is no denying It. But If the same guy keeps winning again & again then what left Is there to prove after so many wins/titles In a row? Even Lancia knew this & quit because there was nothing new In Lancia winning. But today you probably wont get another driver like Sebastien Loeb & not to forget his co-driver Daniel Elena. It was the greatest match made In decades.
Great video just... I feel weird when I hear race instead of rally, it destroys my first impression. Still great material, hundreds of thousands subscribers are coming 😃
A big part of his dominance is also the fact that he found in Daniel Elena his perfect co-driver. Piloting a Rally car is to a huge part about confidence, something Sebastien mentioned a lot in post-stage interviews. Walter Röhrl used his photographic memory to find his way in the stages - Christian Geistdörfer was just there to assure him that he remembered correctly (Walter's own words). But Sebastien established a working roadbook system with Daniel that allowed him to drive really fast. All the stars did align for him to have a unique & magical career. 🤘🤘
You forgot to speak about dakar and the fact that all his "luck" is not with him and still finish 2nd in the championship. A'd sorry but he is legitimately the best driver in motorsport. He toich something, he finished 2 at least. He probably could be dominant in F1 too but we can say thanks to the super licence haha
Great video. Another challenge LOEB is on for the past 4 years is the DAKAR Rally Raid race, one of the 6 World Rally Raid Championship events. He hasn't managed to win the DAKAR itself yet, mostly due to mechanical mishaps, but that is his next goal. We will see in January 2025 with the new Dacia Buggy by ProDrive what he can do together with his old rival and new team mate Nasser Al-Atiya !
What's crazy is Loeb is still a long way from being the most dominant motorsport competitor. In motorbike trials Toni Bou has won the indoor and outdoor world titles for the last 17 years in a row (Including at least one season where he won every single round) and he's on track for an 18th title this year.
i mean, if u talk about one sport only then yes. but as said in this video, he’s won in almost everything he ever tried, or came close to victory, and he tried a LOT of stuff. so to a lot of people, he’s the most dominant driver ever
Today, September 2024, when I finish watching to this video, Loeb just won Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine in France in a RWD Alpine against a fleet of Rally2 cars. The man simply never stops to surprise.
As a woman purchaser the vehicles that survive a rally driving experience is unsurpassed. These vehicles are a testament to vehicles that are safe to transport children and couples from location to location. Amen .x
As ppl said Röhrl is the best instead of Loeb, just compare rally careers. Don't get me wrong, Röhrl is awesome, but Loeb is the best. 1. Loeb 2. Ogier 3 Röhrl
Sebastien Loeb has to be one of the best racing drivers in history, this man talent is unmatched. He always drove very calmly while breaking records, he's smooth as hell behind the wheel, from any vehicle.
He came in with a new driving style and the car was designed for that style. I did notice him in the lower class at Monaco when he was challenging the WRC class. BTW Had Grönholm been smarter in his driving, he would have won 2 titles from Loeb and maybe kept driving and won 2 more. That's a big problem with Finnish Rally drivers, they keep pushing despite already leading the rally by a huge margin, like Kalle at Finnish Rally this year. Had Kalle taken it easier on the final day, he would have been able to react to the stone and miss it, Like Ogier did. Only Juha Kankkunen was smart enough to back off and just take the points from 2nd or 3rd place and not even try to win. Had Tommi been that smart, He would have 5 titles. Grönholm at least 4, maybe more had he kept driving as the Ford was a great car and even Mikko Hirvonen came close to 2 titles. Mikko who clearly wasn't as good as Grönholm.
I remember watching him participating in the xgames 😂 You could tell he was THE PRO . And FROM THE STARTING line. Having watching him during rally it was easy to see whose going to win
you forgot a last little thing in his pedigree : Bro entered the Dakar rally raid race with Peugeot in 2016. Rally raid is a different kind of race than WRC, yet Loeb was ahead at almost every stage, and ended up losing to his team-mate, Stéphane Peterhansel with only a couple minutes separating them. For the record, Stéphane Peterhansel is called "Monsieur Dakar" for the reason that he's the driver with the most Dakar wins in history : 6 times winner in motorcycle, 8 times winner in cars. He's as much a Dakar legend as Loeb is a WRC legend. Loeb is competing again this year with the Dacia team.
A very decent video, thanks for making it. A vast majority of facts are correct so kudos. Couple of remarks though: 6:06 In 2002 Richard Burns was not a former World Champion. He was reigning World Champion with big No.1 on the doors of his 206 WRC, a title hr won in 2001 with Subaru. 8:14 Hyundai Accent WRC as a notable opponent to the Xsara? Even suggesting it was a match for the rest of the pack is a huge overstatement. Škoda which was not mentioned was a far better machine than Accent, be it Octavia WRC or Fabia WRC. in 2003 Mitsubishi was only a shadow of its own legend and competitevness, a sad nostalgic nemories wave of once a power to be reckoned with. What is missing in this set of opponents is Subaru, car that delivered the title to Solberg and Mills that year. 8:27 It won rallies, not races. Otherwise it would have been a race car while in reality it was a rally car. On a side note, there is no such rhing as rally racing, there is simply rally. It's the same type of mistake as calling rally cars race cars. To rally enthusiasts' ears it is like the sound of a stone scratching the surface of glass. 8:38 It is worth mentioning that in 2006 Citroen Racing withdrew from WRC to focus on the development of C4 WRC and Loeb won his 3rd title in a provately enterred Xsara WRC run by Kronos Racing. Throughout the whole 2006 season there was no any development of the Xsara WRC, it was basically a 2005 spec car that still was competetive. It only shows how good the Xsara was and for that reason it is the one mostly associated with Loeb/Elena.
A title that Loeb does not have is winning a WRC Driver's Title with more than 1 manufacturer. Ogier (8) and Kankkunen (4) both won their titles with 3 different manufacturers. This is no sign of disrespect towards Loeb at all - it was very clear that the way that Citroen developed their cars suited Loeb incredibly well.
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Only if Gag the Dad of Cats sounding "talking head" Even a Polar bear snack posh boy ...Chomp Chomp Chomp be better than this fake land of La La bot
Actually, for a lot of French rally fans, the real legendary car is not the C4 WRC, but the Xsara WRC. It is way more iconic.
306 kitcar
Facts
Sarah was for me the one. Sebastian Loeb was number 1 no doubt, then Mcrae
Indeed, I live just next to Haguenau, and back then there was at least one or two person that were driving around in a Xsara modified to be some sort of WRC Replica
@lucwal67 it was a crazy period, Citroën were not really known for their rally prowess and Loeb came in and wiped the floor with the competiton and went on to other championships showing he wasn't just a right guy right car kinda thing.
His 2022 Monte Carlo Rally win was so iconic. He casually returned to rallying at the age of 48 and won.
With a math teacher as copilot 😅
@@robertino01 ..and by far the slowest Rally1 car on the start line.
@@FinnishCarGuys i dont think so, even Gus Greensmith won a stage (his first and only) in Monte 22' with that Puma
@@robertino01Gus won a stage in New Zealand in 2022 as well I believe.
@@georgealoupas6988 yeah your right, he won 2 stages in his career, but i didnt remember the second one tbh
We see that we are on a current US channel, so not really a specialist in the world of Rallies...
A team in Rally is a driver, it's a car and its technical team, ok, but how can we forget such an important player in Rally? In Rally to win a driver needs a co-driver! A co-driver who allows the driver to exploit his talent at 100%.
A victory in Rally is not a driver alone, it's a duo, it's a DRIVER + CO-DRIVER crew and a great osmosis between the two!
And there throughout these 20 minutes of video on the Great Loeb, not a word and not a picture about his great co-driver who accompanied him throughout his career in WRC and their 9 World Champion titles... I therefore quote him to also pay tribute to DANIEL ELENA, the Monegasque co-driver 9 times FIA World Rally Champion with SEBASTIEN LOEB! 👏👏
And that Co-Driver was Daniel Elena!
It was Sébastien that won. The co-driver is not of consequence.
@@bigshorty4855 bait used to be good
YES! I may be an American, but when Speedvision existed, I had the pleasure of watching the World Rally Championship. I got to see and appreciate how Colin McRae and his great co-driver, Nicky Grist, worked together. Their teamwork was a thing of BEAUTY!
The fact that he didn’t have enough super license points for F1 is crazy. It’s so dumb how that system works that a 9 time world champion in WRC can’t compete in F1
Seb is by far the most complete racing driver that ever existed.
If it ever existed like a decathlon for motorsport he'd easily win even that.
Triathlon, thats 3 sports, decathlon is only 2 haha
@@PimSchouten Decathlon is 10 dude
@@Trackmonger73 apologies, got mixed up with something else
Next one who might show such dominance in the sport is Rovanperä, and while I'm quite happy as finnish rally fan to see a countryman miles before the rest, I'm quite worried what a yet another dominant era will do for the sport. I don't really see anyone realistically challenging him in the near future. Might be there are some stars coming up in abroad rallying scene, but so far I'm kinda not seeing anyone.
@@Pyllymysliafter Sami Pajari & Enni Mälkönen performed so well in the Rally Finland a week ago, for the first time in the WRC car, I do hope Kalle & moto world will see some adequate competitor at least...
>Returns to the WRC having not competed since 2018 and in completely different cars
>Wins
>Refuses to elaborate
>Leaves
il a fait 2 rallyes en wrc en 2020
Loeb is hands down the best overall race driver ever, ive been watching motorsport since the late 80s, F1 has had some greats but Rally is just different it has almost zero margin for error and takes BALLS the size watermelons.
Have you seen Verstappen's 2023 Q3 run in Monaco? The car was so close to the guardrails, you couldn't fit a piece of paper between them and the wheels because sometimes, it was quite literally gently squeezing them. Also zero margin for error.
Loeb is an absolute legend with question, and certainly part of the elite within the elite, but there are far too many variables to determine "the best ever".
I'd rate Jim Clark as better. No rally domination, but just about every other class. Before anyone says anything about that, Seb didn't dominate F1, either.
@@supercededman oooooooffffffff Clark is a fair shout.
i just rate rally as harder than just about any other racing, of course the drivers know the road but its not the same as a track where they get to do the same few corners over and over till they are perfect.
rally was always the one type of racing i wanted to do but i would wrap myself around a tree by the 3rd corner.
@@uncle_pompom Yeah, Seb is something special, and I admire the incredible skill of rally drivers. I'm 63, and have followed motorsport for over 50 years, seen many incredible drivers across a number of disciplines.
I'm in awe, particularly, of Carlos Sainz Sr. At age 61 to win the Dakar, after already achieving so much. Before him, even, the days of Group B - absolute insanity.
I race on Gran Turismo, and love the rally tracks, but I'm hopeless. Nonetheless, it gives me an appreciation for the masterful skills of rally drivers.
@@supercededman im on gt7 too, its alot easier when death is not a factor. lol
While F1 is complaining because of Lewis or Max, they don't know domination. This guy did this game at a legendary level.
It looks like he played with the IA at 40%🤣🤣 he was just that special compared to the rest of drivers
He was so good he basically killed the sport haha
Ogier was quite something too 🙂
French domination of WRC was for me, unexpected but incredible to see.
Well, Lewis got 7 world titles so... if that's not domination, I don't konw what it is.
The WRC came past my house once.... there were some fast drivers.
Then sebastian loeb came past.
It wasnt even comparable.
Guy was literally absolutely flying.
@@VenomRoadRacing the guy is just a machine
I saw him on Monte carlo rally, you could literally see the difference with the other pilots 😂
For someone who only has 10k subs, you deserve more, loved the editing as well as the “story telling”
That’s great to hear, thank you 🙏
nah nan its an ai channel good video but sad to see its not a real voice
I came here to say exactly that!! Amazing production!! And, also, subscribed!!
Did not hear "Sub and hit that bell, leave a like" for the first minute. Only interesting story telling. Went and subscribed right away.
I think it's just because he's new to RUclips ONLY
Imho the coolest thing about this man is, that he was actually just a normal dude. He knew a thing or two about real life outside of motorsports glory. You can't say the same about most other drivers such as Max Verstappen.
Don't forget that between he started and left, there was a big economic downfall in 2008. That's part of why some brands (Subaru and Suzuki) left the WRC. The others left simply due to their lack of success. Seat was gone by the time Loeb really arrived, so was Hyundai. Škoda left in 2005 after multiple seasons without a decent result and Mitsubishi was on a major downfall since 2001. Also, already in 2013, Volkswagen and Hyundai joined the sport, planning to do so way before Loeb announced his retirement.
There are a few mistakes in this video, for example when you talked about the Xsara WRC, you often showed the Xsara Kit Car.
It should also be noted that the year Loeb raced in Pikes Peak was the first year when the whole Pikes Peak course was paved, which greatly contributed to him smashing the record like that. Before that, some parts of the course were gravel.
Just a few more things I'll mention:
In 2003, he actually lost the title to Petter Solberg by a single point. That disqualification from Monte Carlo made a big difference there.
In 2006, he wasn't actually racing for Citroen's factory team, as the team left the WRC for that one season to focus on developing the C4 WRC. Loeb considered switching to Ford, but instead decided to race for the privately run Kronos Racing team, which ran the Xsara WRC. He won the title despite missing the last 4 rallies of the season with an injury. This was also the first time in many years a private team won a WRC title.
I haven't checked myself, but I've heard Loeb went unbeaten on tarmac from 2004 to 2012.
Loeb also successfully raced in the Dakar Rally and keeps racing there. He is, however, yet to win it.
You pin pointed most of the things I wanted to point out, especially about the demise of manufacturers in 2008.
But Loeb's disqualification in Monte Carlo took place in 2002 season, on a partial campaign aimed at developing and fine tuning the Xsara. I remember it well because it gave Tommi his last win in WRC and 2nd or 3rd win in Monte Carlo. So it had no impact on 2003 season results.
What had an impact was two tarmac rallies where Loeb should have been unbeatable but run out of luck. On Tour de Corse he span in the rain and got stuck in vineyard, lost about 14 minutes and any chance of winning. Solberg on the other hand drove his dream rally, equipped with Pirelli's, famous for their outstanding performance on wet when compared to Michelin's and fueled by sport rage after crashing his Impreza on the shakedown.
In Catalunya Solberg and Makinen could not keep the pace of the pack, trailing in 8th and 9th positions and it looked that Petter's championship charge was over. Until it rained on the last day allowing Solberg to climb to 4th overall, reigniting his championship bid.
Pikes Peak was fully paved already in 2012, then Rhys Millen set the new record. 2013 Loeb arrived and set a another new record.
You'r right Loab sucks
it is not only talent to drive. He himself and his co driver said that he hes extremly good memory to the roads where he drive. he remember details on the roads and close to the roads when his co drived didnt even remember,,, and his driver buddies from the same team don't remember. his words from one of the interviews.
I’ve Heard that to. That he has photographic memory and Daniel Elena sometimes wouldn’t have to anything (nothing against Daniel)
When you look at what he did to Sainz and McRae it was clear how incredibly talented and reliable Loeb is. Only Ogier was on his level.
Frankly, I think Loeb in his prime would have always beaten Ogier. But, we'll never surely know that. He certainly beat him in the years they competed against each other.
Ogier is for sure one of greats of Rallye, but not at Loeb's level. They competed 4 years together, Loeb won the championship on all those 4 years...
@@fedolfs Rovanperä can break all possible records if he wants to.
Seb Loeb is a legend for sure. With Elena, his co driver, they worked on a very efficient system of 'notes' which most of modern pilots use nowadays, Seb Ogier included... Great video ! thanks !
He just won Rally du Mont Blanc with the Alpine A110R GT just coming for fun and discovering the car ! 😂😂😂
I was born and lived close from his native town, Hagenau. He is a living legend. It is nice to hear someone from far away making a video like this. I want to point that he also participated in the Paris-Dakar rally.
Rally drivers are the true pinnacle of driving skill.
3:07 On this picture it's a road legal Renault 5 Turbo (the Group 4 racing version fought against WRC group B cars in the 80's and in the mid 90's, second hand R5 Turbo were too expensive for a young driver).
The Renault 5 GT Turbo (also known as Renault Supercinq GT Turbo) was a way more affordable car (comparable to a Peugeot 205 GTI), the most well known one is featured in the movie "Ali G". The black and the white drag race cars sown later in the video are indeed R5 GT Turbo.
About Citroën reliability, I recently had my 1996 Xantia 1.8i SW get its safety inspection (equivalent of MOT) : zero flaw. More recent PSA or Stellantis cars are really unreliable (PureTech engines are a pain in the ass) but my old green box on wheels has never let me down since I got it 16 years ago.
18:47 This isn't a 208 R2 but the 208 T16 Pikes Peak (derived from the 908 Le Mans car) in which Loab won the eponymous hillclimb race. The 208 R2 never had this huge rear wing.
Tom Kristensen actually managed 6 Le Mans wins in a row, from 2000-2005. He, along with teammates Biela and Pirro, also became the first driver trio to three-peat at Le Mans, when they won from 2000-2002
Becuase of audi domination but he won 2003 IN A BENTLEY
@@raymondchujr1227 Video said "4 Le Mans wins on the trot", when he actually did 6 on the trot.
@@raymondchujr1227 a bentley which was based on the previous audi winner, vw group used to own bentley
@@raymondchujr1227 Which was a rebadged Audi
that's one race . not a championship!
You forgot to talk about Dominique Heinz, this guy believed so much in Seb that he mortgaged his house to pay his rookies seasons to Seb
What are great hommage to our beloved flying french man in his Citroën 👍
It's a constructive critic. I didn't feel that you love this sport, you are more interested in making pop culture references than talking about this rally legend. But I appreciate you made it 💪
Great video, especially for such a small channel. I am from the same region as Loeb, growing up just 20km away from where he grew up. Here are my 2 cents about the video:
- 3:07 that is a R5 Turbo 1, rear engine, rwd, wide body, much more powerful and prestigious than the "normal" small fwd GT Turbo. In the next 2 clips the black and white cars are actually R5 GT Turbos.
- You missed an important part at the beginning of his career I feel: 4:00 what you said is somehow correct, he actually won the "volant rallye jeune" but was given a penalty for some weird reason just to make another one win instead, that other driver was local and had support of the organisers of "volant rally jeune" so when he finished 2nd behind Loeb they gave Loeb a unfair penalty to have the other one win instead. Dominique Heintz read about it in the local Alsace newspaper and basically then paid for Loeb to start rallying as he was believing in him and his talent. Without Dominique Heintz there is no Sebastien Loeb in Rallye...
- 19:37 I understand why you mentioned Isabelle as it's been 25 years no woman did achieve what she just did. But I think it is a shame you never mentioned about Daniel Elena, who was his co-pilot for his entire WRC career. They both invented a new pace-note system that is used today by all WRC drivers.
Awesome video, my opinion is biased as I grew up very nearby Haguenau, but in my mind Loeb is the GOAT of motorsport. It's crazy to think that we were so near to never see him race...
Awesome documentary, well done !
The greatest rally driver ever❌
The greatest driver ever✅
is Kalle Rovanperä
@@Kalastajahml Ummm... no... Kalle Rovanpera is incredible but he's not even close to Sebastian Loeb... Kalle won by a hair last year, Loeb was winning literally almost every rally and was winning the championship by mid season... nobody has made it look so easy as Loeb did...
I genuinely hope you make more documentaries. Its absolutely beautiful to watch. Please make one on Seb Ogier!!
Thank you! 🙏
I remember the first time I saw this guy I could not believe how brilliant he was.
I didn't think he would stand the test of time. But seeing him now totally amazes me
Well done chap.👍
Loeb defenetly has the most wins , and without taking away from his awesome achievements, and beign the greatest rally driver ever for sure when counting wins. i do think W. Rohrl is the better driver :)
0:52 Man is doing a backflip at 48, get out of here
FOR REAL!
Loeb 's talent is from another planet but....there is a driver that came close to taking him off the throne of WRC and his name again is Sebastien ! Great video but make one about Ogier ,Latvala and Hirvonen the ford drivers that were just unluky to race in the era of Loeb
I wouldn't say that Ogier was unlucky to race in the era of Loeb, in 2011, Ogier's first year as a factory WRC driver, he gave Loeb a huge run for his money and lost out just by a little bit in the end of the season partly because of what can be argued as preferential treatment for Loeb in Citroen. Because of these tensions with Loeb and Citroen, Ogier left the team after 2011 and signed with Volkswagen who were just coming to WRC. VW didn't yet have their WRC car developed at 2012 and so Ogier drove a lower class Skoda Fabia S2000 and Loeb won his last WRC title that year. When VW joined the WRC class in 2013, Loeb had already retired from full-time WRC and only drove in 4 rallies. Ogier smashed the 2013 season and became world champion.
So we never really got to witness an all out battle for the championship between Loeb and Ogier with no team orders and politics, which is sad tbh because it would have been epic. No one knows who would have came on top but I think that Ogier was certainly capable of beating Loeb.
Hirvonen and Latvala on the other hand, were definitely unlucky to drive during the era of the Sebastiens. They were close but never really up there enough to beat those legends.
@@pro_grapist Ogier didn't win as many championships but he won in 3 different cars, specially that win on M Sport was impressive, since that was a privateer team, shame they never had fair fight against each others. personally I don't rank Loeb's achievements any higher than Ogier
@@HJK242 Ogier can't keep up with youngsters at this very moment at the age of 40 in Toyota, while Loeb was leading every rally he participated at almost 50 years old before M-Sport Puma fell apart. Don't get me wrong I have a lot of admiration for Ogier's career, but Loeb is more complete driver.
@@nmelol today's road order rules make it easy for part time driver's, that's why Ogier also been winning so many events recently. Era when Loeb won his championships there where no rules like that, who knows witch one is better, but rules made it more easy to dominate when Loeb was driving in Citroën
@@nmelol and without all these silly super Sunday, power stage and Saturday point system. Ogier would be leading championship by 18 points, and he didn't even race in 3 event's this year.
Seb is a Legend and as the video pointed out, one of the most humble personalities ever!
I drove countless hours in that Citröen Xsara in GT2. Ignited my love of rally.
Speaking of rallying, you could make a video about Michelle Mouton
One of the firsts and probably the best woman in motorsport
There are people who believe the two greatest racing drivers of all time, notwithstanding categories, were Jim Clark and Sébastien Loeb. Other than being geniuses behind the wheel of a racing car, both men shared one important trait as well; they were very humble, very accessible, and sincere. Well, Séb still is, and he can still drive like a ninja angel.
For whoever originally said "dominance is bad for motorsports", it's interesting to compare that to every other sport where dominance is great for the sport in terms of viewership and public interest. I think that the more accurate statement is "dominance is bad for the performance car sales of the non-dominant manufacturers".
This dude mopped the floor with the competition and owned the sport for a decade or more.
This is really well produced and kept my attention throughout the whole thing. Loeb was (and still is) a beast but I didn't know of his full accomplishments until now. Keep doing what you're doing and don't be afraid to cover the two-wheeled side of motorsports aswell. Subbed :)
Really appreciate your feedback, thanks 🙏
loeb is a legend ,it will be rare to see a man of his talents to grace the sport
If Ogier wanted he would surpass Loeb in championships
@@ronaldstreicher2532 No, he wouldn't... because HE DID want to surpass Loeb and he didn't manage to do it... his whole goal was to surpass Loeb from the beginning.
Ogier still won 8 championships which is amazing... he's just second best to the guy that made it look so easy that watching the WRC was stupid cause all you needed to know was that Loeb will win... again and again... Loeb was world champion every year and most of them he was world champion by mid season cause he was so far ahead that the others weren't even remotely close to him...
@@sportschool3537 okay 😃
3:07 - that's not a GT Turbo. That's a Renault 5 Turbo, a much different beast. The GT Turbo was an FF layout. A standard looking thing with a turbo engine. This is MR. There is a standard looking 5 a few seconds later in the video.
There's a huge difference between an electrician and an electrical engineer. An engineer has a degree from a technical college then sits at a desk and makes drawings and charts, while a construction electrician goes to a dirt lot every day and installs pipe and wire in the sun and rain until the dirt is covered with a building. He started both but never finished school so was not an engineer.
He never even entered an engineering school as those are an entirely different breed in France
@@unepintade I don't really know what you mean. They used the word engineer in the video but it was based on this sentence: "Sebastian left high school. He wanted something concrete and found it when he graduated as a construction electrician." From his biography. Clearly not engineering. He was a good gymnast though.
@@BariumCobaltNitrog3n i meant that even if he finished school he couldn't have been a engineer since he was doing an electrician degree and not an engineer one
@@unepintade Yes. I agree.
Loeb is the guy, i he choose F1 instead of Rally, or started with bikes, or in Le Mans in the early 00s.
He would be known as the dominator of that series.
This guy would win in absolutly everything
It was pure chance that this dude tried rally. He could have stayed with the bikes and we'd never know how freakishly good he is at rally.
The starts aligned , Loeb was born , random life happend and we luckely got to see one if not the best allround motorsport man of all time . put this man in anything with HP and he will challange anyone , ever . thats how good he was. and most likely still is .
GREAT content! Thank you! 🙏
Went straight to my favorites list! And before seeing this video I didn't even realize before, how big of a "Seb Loeb" fan I actually am ! 👌😊
That’s great to hear! Thank you
Excellent video love it
i'm from loeb's area to be precise loeb at 16 was already stealing family & friends car to ride along the fields
and his hometown isn't hageneau but a small village named oberhoffen-sur-moder
one of the speculated reasons behind Loeb's dominance (aside from his insane memory) is his background in gymnastics:
for those not in the know, that stuff takes precision, strength, a good bit of endurance and some impressive sense of balance, this very well might've given him the basis to develop a truly exceptional car sense, and the skills/physical characteristics to make use of it
I remember when I was young, he started to win and never stopped.
Not just best rally driver, but best driver!
What a legend ! Had plenty of pictures of his cars in my bedroom when I was a kid
Wow such a good video
The Citroën was a good car. But Loeb was the key for success. He was just the perfect rally driver. He done I think less than 10 driving errors trough his career. That's why he won always. His driving was flawless. He was I believe the only sportsman ever who got respected by everyone. Everyone agreed on his victories. He won, because he is the GOAT. BTW. He has nothing to do with WRC's fade. Everyone enjoyed the fight between him and Grönholm. Loeb had quit after Magic Marcus retired, because in the last year he felt there is no competition. Subaru, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Skoda, Suzuki all left because money, not because Loeb. Mainly because the "big short'", Hyundai because the management stole the money. Then Ogier was dominating the scene, because what Loeb has see beforehand. No competition. This doesn't means Ogier is not good, he is great. The only who was able to beat Loeb fair and square. But he raced against newbies and hopeless drivers like Sordo, Latvala, etc.
What can I say but, the man's got balls of steel. Great video btw..
He also had a.go.in WTCC with citroen ( of course) driving very well and finishing runner up both seasons to the magnificent Lopez ( this guy was just amazing, one of the guys that should be in F1 now).
If he went for a tenth consecutive title then he could have "killed interest" in the sport as there would be nothing new In him winning.
(as I am scandinavian & was strongly biased towards gronholm In the 2000s then I despiced Loeb)
He Is a great driver there Is no denying It.
But If the same guy keeps winning again & again then what left Is there to prove after so many wins/titles In a row?
Even Lancia knew this & quit because there was nothing new In Lancia winning.
But today you probably wont get another driver like Sebastien Loeb & not to forget his co-driver Daniel Elena.
It was the greatest match made In decades.
That Citroên Xzara kills every cars in Rally
There are many legends in motorsports with the name Sebastien
Good point 🧐
Amazing video!! Thanks!! :)
Different beetwen Verstappen - Hamilton and Loeb is Hamilton and Verstappen tried to fight over domination, and Loeb is domination himself.
Great video just... I feel weird when I hear race instead of rally, it destroys my first impression. Still great material, hundreds of thousands subscribers are coming 😃
A big part of his dominance is also the fact that he found in Daniel Elena his perfect co-driver. Piloting a Rally car is to a huge part about confidence, something Sebastien mentioned a lot in post-stage interviews. Walter Röhrl used his photographic memory to find his way in the stages - Christian Geistdörfer was just there to assure him that he remembered correctly (Walter's own words). But Sebastien established a working roadbook system with Daniel that allowed him to drive really fast. All the stars did align for him to have a unique & magical career. 🤘🤘
You forgot to speak about dakar and the fact that all his "luck" is not with him and still finish 2nd in the championship. A'd sorry but he is legitimately the best driver in motorsport. He toich something, he finished 2 at least. He probably could be dominant in F1 too but we can say thanks to the super licence haha
Talking about the R5 Gt Turbo and illustrate that with a SuperCinque Turbo is a sacrilege x.x
M'y favorite driver 🇫🇷🇫🇷
Great video. Another challenge LOEB is on for the past 4 years is the DAKAR Rally Raid race, one of the 6 World Rally Raid Championship events. He hasn't managed to win the DAKAR itself yet, mostly due to mechanical mishaps, but that is his next goal. We will see in January 2025 with the new Dacia Buggy by ProDrive what he can do together with his old rival and new team mate Nasser Al-Atiya !
What's crazy is Loeb is still a long way from being the most dominant motorsport competitor. In motorbike trials Toni Bou has won the indoor and outdoor world titles for the last 17 years in a row (Including at least one season where he won every single round) and he's on track for an 18th title this year.
i mean, if u talk about one sport only then yes. but as said in this video, he’s won in almost everything he ever tried, or came close to victory, and he tried a LOT of stuff. so to a lot of people, he’s the most dominant driver ever
7:41 should have began with the kit car, the NA 2wd that beat the WRC's 4wd turbos
Brilliant work! Perfect story telling and editing. Like+Sub :)
PS.: please, make more WRC videos :)
Thank you, there will definitely be more!
That gave me hope to finally start rally
What makes Leob special is the cars being pretty close to the same. In Group B with Röhrl and Mouton a different but very stunning era 😎
Today, September 2024, when I finish watching to this video, Loeb just won Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine in France in a RWD Alpine against a fleet of Rally2 cars. The man simply never stops to surprise.
Possible of of the GOATs of motorsports given the range of accomplishments.
Thx for this video. Next Sebastien Ogier ☺
As a woman purchaser the vehicles that survive a rally driving experience is unsurpassed. These vehicles are a testament to vehicles that are safe to transport children and couples from location to location. Amen .x
Loeb was the morden day jim clark
Honestly Clark is the only reason I don't confidently declare Loeb the best racing driver ever.
Röhl laughing.
He is a living legend
14:00 minutes in and still not one mention of Daniel Elena ?
As ppl said Röhrl is the best instead of Loeb, just compare rally careers.
Don't get me wrong, Röhrl is awesome, but Loeb is the best.
1. Loeb
2. Ogier
3 Röhrl
Sebastien Loeb has to be one of the best racing drivers in history, this man talent is unmatched. He always drove very calmly while breaking records, he's smooth as hell behind the wheel, from any vehicle.
Such a legend, I named my son after him
We can all agree Sebastien Loeb is basically the french Bunta Fujiwara
really wanted to see him and citroen vs ogier and vw. that would have been the best season
Best driver ever in any form, ever! T)
He came in with a new driving style and the car was designed for that style.
I did notice him in the lower class at Monaco when he was challenging the WRC class.
BTW Had Grönholm been smarter in his driving, he would have won 2 titles from Loeb and maybe kept driving and won 2 more.
That's a big problem with Finnish Rally drivers, they keep pushing despite already leading the rally by a huge margin, like Kalle at Finnish Rally this year.
Had Kalle taken it easier on the final day, he would have been able to react to the stone and miss it, Like Ogier did.
Only Juha Kankkunen was smart enough to back off and just take the points from 2nd or 3rd place and not even try to win.
Had Tommi been that smart, He would have 5 titles. Grönholm at least 4, maybe more had he kept driving as the Ford was a great car and even Mikko Hirvonen came close to 2 titles.
Mikko who clearly wasn't as good as Grönholm.
i believe from 2008 to 2012 he was the best overall technical driver in the planet (schumacher retired, hamilton and vettel still rookies)
French rally drivers are just the best in the business. From Michelle Mouton to Sébastien Loeb the French just a knack for rallying.
Thats my GOAT right there.
A living legend.
I remember watching him participating in the xgames 😂
You could tell he was THE PRO .
And FROM THE STARTING line.
Having watching him during rally it was easy to see whose going to win
I saw his first rally in espn, his speed in asfalt was just one level above everybody in his citroven xara
It’s so cool that he has his own game but it is so underrated because it is a low of fun to play
Hes probably the greatest driver that ever drove.
Your French prononciation is flawless
you forgot a last little thing in his pedigree : Bro entered the Dakar rally raid race with Peugeot in 2016.
Rally raid is a different kind of race than WRC, yet Loeb was ahead at almost every stage, and ended up losing to his team-mate, Stéphane Peterhansel with only a couple minutes separating them.
For the record, Stéphane Peterhansel is called "Monsieur Dakar" for the reason that he's the driver with the most Dakar wins in history : 6 times winner in motorcycle, 8 times winner in cars. He's as much a Dakar legend as Loeb is a WRC legend.
Loeb is competing again this year with the Dacia team.
he also held record for the pikes peak climb for a while
Walter Rorhl and Toivonen have something to say...
Yeah, one is dead, but what they had to drive was the most insane cars ever made. 🤷🏻♂️
A very decent video, thanks for making it. A vast majority of facts are correct so kudos.
Couple of remarks though:
6:06 In 2002 Richard Burns was not a former World Champion. He was reigning World Champion with big No.1 on the doors of his 206 WRC, a title hr won in 2001 with Subaru.
8:14 Hyundai Accent WRC as a notable opponent to the Xsara? Even suggesting it was a match for the rest of the pack is a huge overstatement. Škoda which was not mentioned was a far better machine than Accent, be it Octavia WRC or Fabia WRC. in 2003 Mitsubishi was only a shadow of its own legend and competitevness, a sad nostalgic nemories wave of once a power to be reckoned with. What is missing in this set of opponents is Subaru, car that delivered the title to Solberg and Mills that year.
8:27 It won rallies, not races. Otherwise it would have been a race car while in reality it was a rally car. On a side note, there is no such rhing as rally racing, there is simply rally. It's the same type of mistake as calling rally cars race cars. To rally enthusiasts' ears it is like the sound of a stone scratching the surface of glass.
8:38 It is worth mentioning that in 2006 Citroen Racing withdrew from WRC to focus on the development of C4 WRC and Loeb won his 3rd title in a provately enterred Xsara WRC run by Kronos Racing. Throughout the whole 2006 season there was no any development of the Xsara WRC, it was basically a 2005 spec car that still was competetive. It only shows how good the Xsara was and for that reason it is the one mostly associated with Loeb/Elena.
Loeb is unbelievable
A title that Loeb does not have is winning a WRC Driver's Title with more than 1 manufacturer.
Ogier (8) and Kankkunen (4) both won their titles with 3 different manufacturers. This is no sign of disrespect towards Loeb at all - it was very clear that the way that Citroen developed their cars suited Loeb incredibly well.