The modern era of the World Rally Championship is synonymous with the name "Seb". From 2004 to 2021, 17 out of the 18 seasons were won by a Frenchman named Sebastien. Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier dominated the WRC for almost two decades, to an unprecedented degree, with the pair winning a combined 141 events and also scoring 224 podium finishes. In this series of posts, we will be taking a deep dive into both of the Sebs' careers in order to understand what made them so great and so dominant. In the first post of the series, we will be taking a look at the events where Loeb and Ogier where at their most dominant, and also their individual best performances from their championship winning years. If you want to know what terms like s/km deficit mean, and how I calculated them, please make sure to check my first Powerslide Stats Center post, here.
The surface the two Sebastiens were the most dominant at was, no surprise, asphalt. Loeb famously won all tarmac events from 2005 to Germany 2011 with, surprise, Ogier breaking his rival's streak. Ogier was not as lucky, with bad luck robbing him of rally wins on tarmac when he was at his most dominant during his VW days. After his Volkswagen days had ended, the Frenchman adopted a different strategy, getting as many points possible from each event, making it look effortless. One of Loeb's most dominant events on tarmac was Rallye Deutschland, a rally he won 9 times, where he had a s/km deficit of only 0,154 and set competitive times in 94% of the stages he competed in. Similarly, Ogier was also great in Germany. The Frenchman had an average of 0,09 seconds per kilometre deficit compared to the "ideal pace", but he was significantly less consistent, with a percentage of 77%, courtesy of him crashing out of the rally in 2013 and 2014.
@World / Red Bull Content Pool
Loeb also did well in his home rally. Loeb did particularly well in Corsica, winning every event held on the island from 2005 to 2008, and he did so in very dominant fashion. How dominant? He was only 0,03 s/km off the ideal pace, and set a competitive time in all but 2 stages! Ogier also did well in Corsica, with an average of 0,13 s/km deficit to the ideal pace, setting a competitive time in again all but two stages.
GEPA pictures / Red Bull Content Pool
Catalunya, both the mixed, and the full tarmac event was perhaps where the two Sebs were at their best. Loeb won Rally Catalunya 9 times, and had an average of 0,11 s/km deficit to the ideal pace, and a staggering 98% of stages completed with a representative time! Ogier similarly won 4 times in Spain, with an impressive 0,19 s/km. The Frenchman also slightly hurt from the fact that he was cleaning the road in most of them, as 2021 and 2022 were the only full tarmac rallies he did in Catalunya, that's why the 0,19 s/km number is impressive.
Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool
Enough about tarmac, how about some gravel next! With a plethora of gravel events in the WRC compared to asphalt, it is to be expected that the two Sebs did well in different events. For example, Australia was a great hunting ground for Ogier, with the Frenchman having his best ever event there, at least statistically, in 2013. Ogier was only 0,0005 s/km off the ideal pace, missing out on just one stage win (excluding Super Specials), the closest anyone has come to beating Loeb's performance in Corsica back in 2005. Unlike Ogier, Loeb struggled in Australia, crashing out twice, in 2005 and 2011. Ogier also did very well in Wales Rally GB, being 0,17 s/km off on average, a very impressive stat from first on the road. A gravel rally that brings back happy memories for the 8 time World Champion is also Portugal. Ogier has won 6 times in Algarve and Fafe, with a deficit of just 0,18 s/km, again very impressive considering he was the designated road sweeper for almost all of them.
Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool
Loeb, had other events where he excelled in. A rally not many people, including myself, could imagine as a place where Loeb dominated in, was Rally Cyprus. The 9-times World Champion won 3 times on the island, including a mixed surface event in 2009, with an average of just 0,14 s/km in deficit to the ideal pace. That was despite cleaning the road on Friday. The 2005 edition of the rally also saw Loeb set his second best perfromance (statistically) after Corsica in the same year. Loeb also did well in an event where Ogier traditionally struggled in from first on the road, in Argentina. Loeb had an average of 0,16 s/km deficit in the Cordoba based event, and even beat Ogier there in 2013. Similarly to Ogier, Loeb also did well in Wales and Portugal. In Rally GB he was only 0,15 s/km off the ideal pace on average, and in Portugal he was only 0,12! However he did crash out of the 2012 edition of the event on stage 2, so his average in terms of consistency is only a 73%.
GEPA pictures / Red Bull Content Pool
Lastly, a gravel event both Sebastiens dominated was Rally Mexico. After losing the championship lead to a Finn after Rally Sweden, they were not first on the road, and they were not hampered by road cleaning. Loeb was only 0,15 s/km off the ideal pace while Ogier was 0,18 s/km off. Ogier was more consistent than his compatriot, with a 98% in stages with a representative time, to Loeb's equally impressive 93%.
Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool
To end this post, I will leave you with the 10 best performances that Loeb and Ogier had from their championship winning seasons:
Written by Dimitris Theodorou