We bet that rivals of Sebastien Loeb wish that the 38-year old Alsatian hadn’t quit being a gymnast in favor of rally racing in 1995… If he had stuck to his former profession, Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena wouldn’t have done a Michael Schumacher (in his first Formula 1 stint) and dominate the FIA World Rally Championship.
Actually, they have outdone Schumi for they have won the WRC title nine years in a row after winning this weekend’s Rallye de France and helping Citroen secure its eight manufacturers’ title in the WRC.
Loeb and Elena won their eighth race this season, which was also the 75th of their career, even though adverse weather conditions and a wrong choice of tires made the DS3 WRC quite difficult to keep on the road.
“We were aquaplaning a lot and, as there was more and more water on the road, I really took it easy on the last few kilometers”, said Loeb.
Loeb admitted that he didn’t actually have to win the rally to secure the championship with two races remaining until the end of the season – but he did anyway…
By Andrew Tsaousis
5 Comments:
I would never deny that Sebastian is a great driver, but in recent years there has only been two Major manufacturers competing, Citroen and Ford, which is rather disgraceful. Mini may have some good drivers but they are only a minor player. Where are the Japanese, without Subaru and Mitsubishi, who produce some of the best all-wheel drive cars in the world, it's pretty much just a European affair. They should change the name from WRC to the ERC (European Rally Championship).
There's so little interest in the WRC here in the states, they didn't even broadcast the season on Speed or anywhere else that I know off.
si on prend la formule 1 il n'y a que 2 ou 3 équipes qui peuvent gagner le championnat et seul des pilotes comme vettel,alonso et peu etre hamilton pouvais gagner le titre cette année,loeb a durant toute sa carriere battue ce qui se faisait de mieux comme pilote wrc par exemple gronholm qui coure maintenant aux usa,des pilotes tel que ken block qui ne savent que faire les fanfarons en drift voit la difference en wrc.
there's nothing disgraceful about 2 companies keeping a sport alive despite the odds...fact is WRC without Peugeot or Citroen wouldn't exciting...Ford/M-Sport have to be commended as well for their devotion despite not winning a lot of constructors titles...and I personally think there are not a lot of above average drivers.... take Latvala, Loeb, Sordo, Hirvonnen, Ogier, Solberg out of the equation...that's literally all the spectator value out... infact Ogier and Neuville have proved how miserly the current current crop of "average" drivers are...I'd go as far as say Neuville in particular has debunked the fallacy of manufacturer's cars being mechanically superior to customers...yes...but not by a long shot...that was the belief when Petter drove a Citroen DS3 WRC last year...Neuville has achieved stage wins and position 5 using Nasser Al Attiyah's car...this weekend he ammased 6 stage wins, with 5 being on the same day to secure position 4 ...another example is Sebastien Chardonnet, at only 24, first time in WRC car and managed to secure points...says a lot about the drivers ability...so the reason am blabbering so much is my firm belief is that no one wants to sponsor non-talented individuals...and I think that's why there's no money in WRC, too few talented individuals, any company enticed with Loeb as their driver would consider joining the sport because of belief and faith in the individual carrying the team with the car...it's not rocket science why VW snapped Ogier, a blistering fast individual who in his first season was fighting with Loeb for Driver's championship...after all that is what makes the competition...drivers...look at the prototype LMP1 category in Les Mans...it was Peugeot and Audi most of the time but it was enough to leave everyone happy...I totally agree with the notion of more manufacturer's but I'd prefer more quality drivers first.
Yeah, while it's hard for me to comment on any of that since we don't get the WRC here in the states anymore, at least not on Speed, which would rather run reruns of Pimp my Shit Box all night and infomercials, then give their paying customers the World Rally Challenge. I think I'm going to go back to stealing cable.
What do you expect from a country that likes Pimp my Ride, the Kardashians, the Tea Party, and the Republicans.......and the smart half of the country are complacent and will let Romney win the election.
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