There's a strong argument that rallying is the greatest test of driver skill in all of motorsport. Trees, snow banks and steep drops form the track limits, and there's no chance to learn the route off by heart like in circuit racing.
On that basis, there's a case for saying that Sebastien Loeb is in fact the greatest driver of all time even though he's not widely known outside of motorsport circles – except for in his native France.
In 2012 he won his ninth consecutive World Rally Championship title, and then` promptly stepped away from full-time rallying. Loeb rewrote the history books: before him, no driver had ever won more than four titles, or scored more than 25 rally wins – a figure he would more than treble over his illustrious career.
The story started in his native Alsace, which is closer to Germany than to Paris. Loeb started off his career training to be an electrician but found a sponsor to enter him into the Citroen Saxo Trophy, which he won. That set him on the path to greatness as he climbed the national ranks of rallying. In 2000, he made his World Rally Car debut, with the French Federation sponsoring him to take part on the Tour de Corse, in a Toyota Corolla WRC. He finished ninth, and this was enough to earn him a drive on the inaugural Junior World Rally Championship in 2001, where he won the title by claiming five of the six events. He missed the last one, as Citroen promoted him to drive their Xsara WRC in Sanremo. He finished second overall, having challenged for the win. A star was born.
He stayed with Citroen for the next 14 years, completing his first full WRC season in 2003 alongside the stellar line-up of Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz (although he had already taken his first win at Rally Germany in 2002: an event he would win nine times in total).
Loeb claimed his first championship in 2004 and would remain undefeated for the next eight years: claiming nine titles on the trot between 2004 and 2012, when he decided to bow out of full-time rallying.
He's demonstrated his talent in other areas of motorsport too and was once close to racing in Formula 1. As well as finishing second at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2006, he went on to win in GT cars, touring cars and rallycross. He also continued to compete occasionally in the WRC, claiming his 79th victory in Spain in 2018. These days, his focus is on Extreme E and the Dakar: an event he is yet to win, although he's come very close.