Sébastien Ogier


Sébastien Eugène Emile Ogier is a French rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship. He is currently teamed with co-driver Vincent Landais. He has won 9 World Rally Drivers' Championship including 6 consecutive titles from 2013 to 2018, in addition to 2020, 2021 and 2025, and is the joint most successful WRC driver together with Sébastien Loeb. He has achieved 67 rally victories and is one of the only two drivers to have won the World Championship with 3 different manufacturers. He holds various WRC records including the most drivers' championship points overall, biggest points gap with the championship runner-up, most stage victories and points in a single season.
Ogier started his rally career in France in 2005 and won the Peugeot 206 Cup in 2006. He won the title in his first season in the Junior World Rally Championship, driving a Citroën C2 in 2008. He debuted in the World Rally Championship at the 2008 Rally Mexico and scored a point in his first race after finishing eighth. He drove a World Rally Car for the first time, a Citroën C4 in 2008 Rally GB and was promoted to a full-time drive for the next season with the Citroën Junior Team. He got his first podium in the 2009 Acropolis Rally after securing a second-place finish. He drove select races for the Citroën World Rally Team in the 2010 season and took his maiden WRC win in the 2010 Rally de Portugal.
Ogier secured a full time drive with the Citroën factory team for the 2011 season. Ahead of the 2012 season, he joined the Volkswagen team and drove a Škoda Fabia S2000. He drove the Volkswagen Polo R WRC for the first time in the 2013 season, in which, he won his first WRC Drivers title with nine rally victories from 13 events. He won a further three consecutive titles in 2014, 2015, and 2016. He won a further two titles in the next two seasons, driving the Ford Fiesta WRC before finishing third in the lone season back with the Citroën team. He moved to Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT before the 2020 season and won the two titles in 2020, and 2021 season while driving a Toyota Yaris WRC. Since the 2022 season, he has been competing in select rallies with the Toyota team.
Ogier has also competed in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, and Porsche Supercup. Apart from rallying, he tested a Red Bull Racing RB7 Formula one car in 2017. He also took part in the Race of Champions in 2011, and drove a Ferrari F430 Scuderia in the 2011 French GT Championship. He participated in three races in the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship including the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Richard Mille Racing Team.

Rally career

Early years (2005–2007)

Ogier's rally career began in 2005 when he won the French Federation's Rallye Jeunes and was rewarded with a place in the Peugeot 206 Cup for the following season. Teamed with co-driver Julien Ingrassia, he claimed a podium at Terre des Cardabelles and sixth place in the championship along with the Best Rookie award.
In 2007, Ogier won the Peugeot 206 Cup with four victories and two second places. He also won the Rallye Hivernal des Hautes-Alpes. In April 2007, he took part in his first regional rally placing third overall in a Peugeot 206 XS.
Ogier received the Espoir Echappement de l’année award, an honorific prize from professionals and fans, joining past winners Didier Auriol, François Delecour and Sébastien Loeb.

World Championship (2008)

JWRC Champion

In the 2008 season, Ogier moved to compete a full Junior World Rally Championship program, driving a Super 1600-class Citroën C2 for the Equipe de France FFSA team.
Ogier debuted in the World Rally Championship at the 2008 Rally Mexico, winning first in the JWRC class, and becoming the first JWRC driver to take a WRC point thanks to his eighth place overall finish. He won again in Jordan: after a four-minute loss due to mechanical failure, he stormed back, eventually taking the victory when the leader went off the road.
After this second successive win, Ogier retired from Rally Sardinia with a broken steering rod. However, he restarted thanks to the SupeRally rule and finished fifth. Ogier went on to take further junior category victory in Germany. He then dominated his class at Rally Catalunya scoring most of the best times, but went off the road during the last leg.
After a cautious start at his home event, the Tour de Corse, Ogier clinched the Junior world champion title by placing second.

First WRC rally and first stage win

After winning the JWRC title, Ogier was rewarded with his first World Rally Car drive in a Citroën C4 for Rally GB. He surprised the more experienced drivers by winning the first stage on the ice and taking a shock lead for his first WRC rally. With the advantage of his road position, he kept the lead until the fifth stage, before losing time with a mechanical trouble. He eventually crashed out from eighth place on day two.

Citroën (2009–2011)

2009: 1st full WRC season (1st podium) and win in Monte-Carlo (IRC)

In January 2009, Ogier made a one-off appearance in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, contesting the Monte Carlo Rally. He won the prestigious event for his first rally in a Kronos Peugeot 207 S2000.
It was only a one-off participation in IRC: for the 2009 season, Ogier was signed in WRC to capitalize on his Junior title. At the start of the season, he was supposed to take part in the first six rounds of the world championship with a C4 WRC of Citroën's satellite team, and that the remaining rallies of the season would depend on his results. Despite a few mistakes, his performances pushed the squad to confirm him for the rest of the season.
At the Acropolis Rally, Ogier drove to his first podium place, finishing second to Ford's Mikko Hirvonen.

2010: 2nd full WRC season (1st win)

In January 2010, Ogier took part again in the Rallye Monte-Carlo with a Peugeot 207 S2000. After losing two minutes going off-road at the start of the race, he then scored a lot of stage wins and came back 45 seconds off the leader Mikko Hirvonen, but eventually retired on the last day with an alternator problem.
As Monte-Carlo was still part of the IRC calendar, Ogier's 2010 season really started in Sweden with the first round of the WRC year. The Frenchman continued in the Citroën Junior Team with the 2007 Formula One world champion Kimi Räikkönen as his new teammate. He took fifth place in Sweden after a solid performance and clinched his second podium in Mexico after duelling against Petter Solberg until the last minute. In Jordan he took an excellent start and was lying second in the standings after the first two legs, however team orders forced him to take several minutes of penalty at a time control. He still ended in sixth position. In Turkey, Sébastien led during eleven stages, before losing three minutes with a puncture in SS15, eventually finishing fourth. At the Rally New Zealand, he came even closer to his maiden win as he was leading before the final stage, but spun three corners before the finish and lost the win to Latvala by 2.4 seconds.
Ogier went on to take his debut WRC victory in the next event, the Rally de Portugal. Keeping the momentum from his performances in Turkey and New Zealand, he took 45 seconds from road-sweeper Sébastien Loeb on day one. Although Loeb came back, Ogier made no mistake and eventually beat him by 8 seconds. He went on to win Rally della Lanterna in Italy, a guest appearance he made to gain experience on asphalt as he had always been more confident on gravel.
Given Ogier's solid results, his team spirit and Dani Sordo’s disappointing performances, Citroën promoted Ogier to the factory team for the remaining three gravel rounds of the season. Subsequently, Sordo replaced Ogier in the manufacturer's junior team. It proved to be a judicious decision as Sébastien Ogier took a solid second place in Finland, in front of Sébastien Loeb, whereas he was 4th and 3rd behind Sordo and Loeb on asphalt. He took his second WRC win in Japan after a thrilling duel against Petter Solberg and impressed by his capacity to quickly adapt himself to a rally he had never raced before.
Ogier was just 43 points behind teammate Sébastien Loeb with three events to go, therefore still having a chance for the title. However, in the last three rallies he would only score nine points, making him lose two positions to Jari Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg and finishing the season in fourth place.

2011: Citroën official driver

Ogier continued his progression in 2011. Given his performances in 2010, he was given a drive with Citroën's factory team for the full 2011 season, replacing Dani Sordo. As he was promised to be treated equally with Loeb, the fans awaited a great battle for the title.
The DS3 WRC did not make the expected debut in Sweden; however, Ogier beat Loeb, and also became the first driver to win a Power Stage. Their battle turned out to a duel in Mexico where Ogier started the last day as leader before going off the road. He went on to win the next two rallies in Portugal and Jordan: with two-tenth on Jari-Matti Latvala, he beat the record of the smallest winning gap. 4th in Sardinia, Ogier came close to another victory in Argentina: while he started the last leg with a 43.7s advantage on Hirvonen, he rolled; this led him to finish with no steering wheel and cost him the win in the last stage. He ended in third position behind Sébastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen.
Ogier went on to claim victory on the Acropolis Rally, but his relationship with Sébastien Loeb deteriorated. Following a classic WRC strategy, the Frenchman slowed down on the Saturday evening to force his teammate to open the road the day after. To do so, he based himself on Loeb's times sent by his team, while a technical problem prevented Loeb from receiving the same information. The rally ended in a controversial atmosphere as Loeb had difficulty accepting to sweep the road on these gravel stages. Loeb bounced back in Finland, while Ogier ended in third position after a puncture during the last day. The tension between the two Citroën drivers knew their peak in Germany, where Sébastien Loeb had never been beaten. Before the start of the race, the reigning World Champion announced the extension of his contract with Citroën until the end of 2013. In that media context, the brand imposed team orders at the end of the first leg, while Loeb and Ogier were separated by only 7 seconds, with a big margin over their rivals. It was a beautiful battle and Sébastien Ogier did not accept being sacrificed so early and in such a disrespectful way. This is what he publicly said, giving rise to a huge controversy. The win eventually went to him, as Loeb punctured a tyre.
In Australia, Ogier did not make the most of Sébastien Loeb going off the road as he made a mistake as well during the first day. After a thrilling climb in the standings that brought him up to ninth place and close to eighth, the team asked him to slow down at the end of the rally to let his teammate pass and score one point for the championship: he took a voluntary penalty and stopped on the side of the road for around ten minutes. Also helped by team orders, Mikko Hirvonen won the rally and therefore became a serious title contender, 8 points off Loeb. Ogier took a convincing win at the Rallye de France Alsace: after Loeb retired because of a technical problem, he resisted Dani Sordo’s and Petter Solberg’s pressure and went on to take the maximum points for the team. He also made a good operation for the Drivers’ championship and left Alsace 3 points off the co-leaders Sébastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen. Two rounds before the end of the season, the championship seemed to be wide open, but Loeb did eventually clinch the title. After an engine problem in Spain and an accident in Great-Britain, Sébastien Ogier ended the championship in third position with five wins and four Power Stages’ best times. His tense relationship with Citroën management led to his discharge, which was officially announced on 16 November. He was then replaced by Mikko Hirvonen.