The astonishing statistics of Loeb's success in Catalonia

Victorious for their third participation in a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 2018 on the side of Catalonia (Spain), Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena (Citroën) have further anchored their names in the legend of motorsport. It’s as if the passing of time has no influence on them! The proof in three remarkable statistics, perhaps even more incredible than the records set by another veteran, Kimi Räikkönen, the previous week.

Biggest gap between first and last victory rally WRC : 16 years

Oh how old I am! Where Kimi Räikkönen has kept the same impassive face over the years, let's say that the hair of Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena has had time to turn gray between their Rally Germany victorious on August 25 2002 and their success in Catalonia on October 28, 2018. In fact, 5 days passed between the two dates, i.e. 16 years, 2 months and 3 days ! This is better than Björn Waldegard, who waited 15 years between the 1975 Swedish Rally and the 1990 Safari Rally.

“Loebmania”, first episodes in 2002. © DPPI

Back to the summer of 2002. Faced with the world leaders, the Citroën The first Rally Germany in the history of the WRC will be contested entirely on asphalt, Sébastien Loeb's favorite surface.

However, everything did not go as planned. The rain disrupts the French clan which misses its choice of tires. The Chevron sedan spins on Saturday and only has 10 seconds ahead of Richard Burns (Peugeot ) before the last day.

“With the rain it was very difficult to drive, explained Sébastien Loeb. We didn't cut the tires enough and there was a lot of aquaplaning. » Fortunately, the sun reappeared the next day and at the cost of a close duel with the outgoing champion, the Alsatian finished with a 14-second margin over Richard Burns.

“Winning here is the best thing that could have happened to me. I only live 200 km away, I have lots of friends and fans who came,” he rejoiced.

Purists might retort that the first victory on paper was acquired at Monte Carlo 2002. The tires of the Citroën a hefty two-minute penalty. Well in the lead with 45 seconds ahead of Tommi Mäkinen, the French team fell to second place after the finish.

While Sébastien Loeb won the 2002 Rally Germany…
– Esapekka Lappi is 12 years old.
- Sébastien Ogier did not start his career in rallying.
- Michael Schumacher is already assured of his fifth title in F1, as Ferrari among manufacturers.
-The 24 Hours of Spa are won by Bouchut-Terrien-Bourdais-Vosse aboard a Viper GTS-R.
– Not yet converted to a rally driver, Nicolas Vouilloz won gold at the Downhill MTB World Championships.
– Max Biaggi wins MotoGP in the Czech Republic.
– Pete Sampras wins the US Open tennis tournament.

Time between first and last special victory: 17 years
Already on asphalt, Sébastien Loeb wins his first special event on October 6 2001 on a legendary rally, absent from the WRC since 2004, the Sanremo (Italy). At the time, the 27-year-old driver won the long special (25 km) at Molini in the early morning. He is thus ahead of tarmac specialists such as Gilles Panizzi (Peugeot) or Philippe Bugalski (Citroën).

He won three other stages, to finish the event in second place, behind Gilles Panizzi by 11 seconds. “We had a very good rally, Sébastien Loeb then commented. We started the test very slowly because we had to learn how the car behaved. This is my first rally with the Xsara WRC ! " Gilles Panizzi also spoke of Sébastien Loeb as “of a young guy who went the fastest” ; he didn't think he said it so well...

While Sébastien Loeb won his first specials in October 2001…
– Jean Alesi retires from F1.
– Emmanuele Pirro and Frank Biela win Petit Le Mans on an Audi R8.
– Jeannie Longo wins the World Cycling Championship in a time trial.
– FC Nantes defends its title as Ligue 1 football champion.
– Windows launches its Windows XP operating system

Second largest gap between last two WRC victories: 5 years
It needs to be done ! Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena had not won in the WRC for over 5 years (5 years, 5 months and 24 days to be exact) and the 2013 Rally Argentina. It's a tad better than Juha Kankkunen, who had waited 5 years, 5 months and 18 days between his success in Portugal in 1994 and at home in Finland in 1999.

This exceptional longevity does not, however, constitute a record. Jean-Luc Thérier, specialist inAlpine A110 in the early 1970s, managed to win its last two World Championship rallies almost six years apart! The three-time French champion in the discipline won the United States Rally in Michigan on a Renault 17 Gordini in 1974, before receiving the laurels again at the 1980 Tour de Corse, on a Porsche 911 SC.

On the podium of the oldest drivers to win in the WRC: 44 years old
Well into his forties, Sébastien Loeb joins other big names to have won a trophy despite their old-timer status. The Frenchman is the third oldest driver to win a rally after Catalonia 2018, at 44 years 8 months and 2 days.

Only Björn Waldegard and Hannu Mikkola did better (at respectively 46 years, 5 months and 4 days at the Safari Rally in Kenya 1990 and at 44 years, 10 months and 27 days still at the Safari in 1987). All these statistics are displayed after the 2018 Catalonia Rally, but could be updated if the record WRC title holder decides to do more work in 2019...

Discover the analysis of the Rally of Catalonia carried out by our special correspondent in issue 2189 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms and from this Wednesday on newsstands.