Eight-time World Champion and WRC legend: this is Sébastien Ogier!

Every story has an ending. Even those of the greatest legends. Sébastien Ogier is undoubtedly one of the greatest drivers of all time, and not just in the world of rallying. How did his professional career begin or how many victories did he achieve?

His professional career began in 2005 when he dominated the FFSA Selection Rallye Jeunes (a talent search event organised by the French federation – ed.). This championship secured him a place behind the wheel of a Peugeot 206 Cup, where he scored one podium finish in the Rallye Terre des Cardabelles and was named best rookie of the year.

It wasn’t until 2008 that he made his debut in the WRC Championship, where he competed in the Junior WRC. It is in this category that potential future champions of the sport compete. A year earlier, he celebrated his first victory in the Peugeot 206 Cup, and then, starting in 2009, he began his career in the WRC royal category.

However, the first three years were not easy for him. In those days, the WRC was dominated by another French driver – Sébastien Loeb. Gradually, however, he tried to assert himself. In his inaugural season, he drove a Citroën C4 and took two podiums.

He won in Monte-Carlo and finished second in the Rally of Greece. Overall, however, he ended his time in the drivers’ championship in eighth place.

A year later, however, he made a significant improvement – he finished the 2010 season in fourth place and reached the podium six times! He celebrated victories in Portugal and Japan, finished second in Finland and New Zealand, and was able to take third place twice (Mexican and German rallies).

The 2011 season was even more successful. Ogier finished third in the Drivers’ Championship, taking victory five times. However, it wasn’t until 2013 that he won his first championship title, then racing in the colours of Volkswagen Motorsport.

With the German team, Ogier won three more titles in the following years, with the French driver setting a clear dominance since the 2013 season. He dominated the 2013 season in an unprecedented way. He won nine out of thirteen races and only twice failed to reach the podium. In total, he scored an incredible 290 points, with second-placed Thierry Neuville losing 114 points to him!

A year later, he scored 23 points less, but still retained his championship title. The 2015 season saw Ogier’s dominance continue as he scored a total of 263 points, eighty points ahead of his biggest rival (Jari-Matti Latvala – ed.).

108 points were then the difference between champion Ogier and second-placed Neuville in 2016. But then came the shock – the Volkswagen Group announced that it was withdrawing from the World Rally Championship because of the dieselgate affair.

Ogier therefore became the driver of the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team for 2017 and celebrated overall triumph here too, but with a much smaller lead (Ogier took 232 points in this year’s edition, followed again by Neuville with 208 points). The Frenchman secured his sixth title in a row in the coming season, but his lead was again slightly smaller, this time just 18 points. The biggest competitor in the title fight was once again the Belgian Neuville.

The reign of the legendary Frenchman was then ended in 2019 by Ott Tänak, but in that next year, which was also greatly affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Ogier celebrated his seventh world championship title.

It was, it must be said, a very tight battle – Ogier only defended his championship by eight points over his teammate Elfyn Evans. The Welsh racer also fought Ogier for the championship title in the recently concluded season, but the French legend did better and became the eighth world champion.

However, this is not a complete record, as this statistic is ruled by another Frenchman – yes, that’s right, Sébastien Loeb. The former Citroën driver has nine championship titles to his name!

In any case, Ogier can be described not only as one of the greatest legends and best drivers of the WRC, but also of motorsport.

The native of Gap, France, has won the world championship eight times and won 54 races. His co-driver Julien Ingrassia has accompanied him throughout his career, and they began working together in 2006, when Ogier competed in the Peugeot 206 Cup category.

He fell in love with motorsport from an early age – his father was a fan of Ayrton Senna and his uncle was an autocross racer. What Ogier has achieved is, in short, a dream come true and he is to rallying as a whole what Lewis Hamilton is to Formula 1 or Valentino Rossi is to Moto GP.

Sources: WRC, Toyota Gazoo Racing