Sebastien Loeb makes history in Rally Japan
Sebastien Loeb scored a narrow win in the World Rally Championship's Rally Japan this past weekend, the 27th WRC victory of his career, making him the winningest driver in the history of the FIA's rally championship.
Loeb's achievement is all the more remarkable because he only made his WRC debut in 2004, breaking Carlos Sainz' previous record in only four seasons. Loeb has put in a dominating performance this year in his Kronos Racing Citroen, winning seven events in only eleven starts to lead the driver's championship by 33 points over BP/Ford's Marcus Gronholm.
Loeb could well be even stronger next year, when he returns to the Citroen factory team piloting the all-new Citroen C4. Meanwhile, he's on track for his third World Rally Championship heading into the next event in Cyprus.
[Source: Rally Japan]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
eeed 5:12PM (9/06/2006)
Oh how I wish speed could devote a few hours a month to WRC instead of more talking heads talking about talking heads talking about talking NASCAR.
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Aki 5:23PM (9/06/2006)
"winningest"
Wow didn't know such a word existed. Thx autoblog for expanding my lexicon ;-)
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Slick33 5:25PM (9/06/2006)
If you're not opposed to it, you can find Eurosport's coverage online, which is much more encompasing than Speed's last couple seasons with WRC. The only downside is no Nicky Grist hosting.
Congratulations to Loeb...it's a remarkable feat. However, I still don't see him as WRC's best driver ever. It's remarkable that drivers like McRae and Sainz were able to get so many wins in a much more competitive field, and with multiple teams/vehicles. I can't help but wonder if Loeb would be as successful if he were driving for a different team and/or in a different car.
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Mustang 5:28PM (9/06/2006)
eeed: I'm not a big WRC fan, but i'd take just about any racing over all that NASCAR coverage that speed has.
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Vinny 5:39PM (9/06/2006)
Amen! Less NASCAR on SPEED!
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Baumann 5:50PM (9/06/2006)
Aki,
I'm guessing you were criticizing them for using a word that you thought doesn't exist in an attempt to sound smarter then someone writing an article about cars.
Try again:
http://m-w.com/dictionary/winningest
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Evan Brom 6:27PM (9/06/2006)
I miss WRC but I guess people rather see rednecks play poker.
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tim c 6:43PM (9/06/2006)
Regardless of whether the word winningest appears in Websters or anywhere else it's a horrible word wouldn't you agree Baumann? Please don't use it again.
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John 6:42PM (9/06/2006)
WRC does not get enough credit in the States. IMO, Rally drivers are among the sharpest and most talented of all drivers in competitive racing. Congrats to Loeb.
Plus, Speed has got to reduce all that NASCAR crap and add more variety of racing to its lineup.More F1, WRC, Touring Car, CART, IRL, and MOTO GP. Stop shoving all that NASCAR crap down our throats.
Speed channel has lost its luster. Might as well as call it NASCAR Channel. Bring back more racing and cut back on the chit-chat about NASCAR.
.....
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WRC05 7:19PM (9/06/2006)
Congrat to Loeb, he is a very talented rallycar driver. He seems to be on top of everyone this season except for Marcus on a few rounds. Other drivers like Petter Solberg had nothing but bad luck. Loeb wins rounds almost too easily.
And yes, SPEED channel needs to cover other racing events other than rednecks watching traffic in a big ring! I say they move this NASCAR shit to Country Music Television, they attract the same audience pretty much.
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Mike 9:52PM (9/06/2006)
I actually wonder if Loeb won't stumble when he switches to the C4, at least at first. new WRC cars always have some troubles, and part of why Loeb keeps winning is that the Xsara never ever has any kind of failure, basically. the rest of why is because he almost never screws up either, even when pushing hard. but hopefully the C4 will be a little faster, because Gronholm in the Focus seems to have a slight edge when nothing goes wrong.
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pooch 10:22PM (9/06/2006)
NASCAR bashers (me too) keep on sending emails, lots of emails, to SPEED and let them know that there is more to racing than just NASCAR.
If enough of us respond maybe, just maybe, they will listen and make some much needed changes. Ten years later and it's worse than ever. :(
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Paveway 12:14PM (9/07/2006)
Hey Ford and GM, wanna sell some damn cars in the US?
Buy an STI and EVO. Hell, buy a Citroen and Peugeot AWD car. Take a GOOD look at them and say to yourselves "We could build one of these......"
Ford has the Focus AND a 4wd kit available. They're halfway there. Waitaminnit, dont they sell AWD Focus in Europe or something like that?
GM could use the Cobalt or Malibu. Put the Supercharged Ecotec motor in a Malibu (cranked up to 300 hp) with a 6 speed and scrounge the parts bins like they did for the Typhoon/Cyclone AWD system and put the thing in the showroom. Matter of fact, bring back the Cyclone system for the Colorado/Canyon!
Gotta go, the NASCAR fishing/hunting show is on SPEED.......sheesh......
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Tired_Watcher 4:27AM (9/07/2006)
Congrats to him and Sordo will join him on the Citroen team next year. They seem like a great combination. Both are calm and collective. Seems like Sordo has the potential to be a great driver in the future.
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Edmund Dantes 7:26AM (9/07/2006)
Loeb is dominating his sport. I wish WRC events were easier to find on TV. I think it would do relatively well if it were properly marketed.
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