The words "36 sub-station champions" and "four consecutive championships a year" are linked together, forming a great achievement: before Loeb, there was only Finnish Kankkunen in WRC history (1986, 1987, 199 1,/kloc). Now, the Frenchman Loeb's name has been added to the legend list. As we all know, car races are full of accidents, and it is very difficult to win a championship with frequent accidents. Loeb won a record 36 races (up to the 2007 season), compared with 24 races for makinen and 23 races for Kankkunen. It took Loeb seven years to hand over such a report card from the first time he participated in the WRC competition in 200 1. Loeb is also the driver with the highest winning percentage in WRC history, winning 36 times in 70 races, with a winning percentage as high as 5 1.4%: Groholm 20%, makinen 17. 14% and Kankkunen 14.29%.
People can't help asking: How did Loeb's achievements come about?
Loeb can't bear to answer this question. When he stood on the podium, his heart had flown back to his home on the shores of Lake Geneva. His daughter, who is not yet full moon, may have fallen asleep in the cradle. Who knows? Anyway, Loeb misses her very much, and of course he misses his wife Sevina. Meetings and activities take up too much of his time.
Gymnasts-Electricians-Amateur Drivers
1February 26th, 974, Haguenau, Alsace, Sebastian? Loeb was born in an ordinary family. Loeb went to school and began to practice gymnastics. In France, a country where gymnastics is not a traditional strength, Loeb did not make achievements until he was in his twenties. But during this period, he gradually became fascinated with machinery, such as motorcycles, and began to dislike staying at school. His parents were very tolerant of him and did not object to Loeb's termination of gymnastics training. After Loeb gave up gymnastics for a while, he was also confused about his future. Luckily, he got a very old motorcycle. He tried to repair it and often practiced his motorcycle skills in the middle of the night, which also led to complaints from his neighbors. Later, Loeb got an electrician's license. Maybe he will use it as a means to make a living, because there are excellent electricians among his companions. Loeb was tired of playing with motorcycles, bought a cheap second-hand sports car and modified it himself. Loeb always practices with it in the dead of night. "At that time, I just thought it was fun. It was an interest. I didn't expect to become a driver in the future." Loeb said, "Rally is very popular, but I never dreamed of participating in it. It is not in the world I live in. "
Loeb has been working as an electrician, so that he can earn some money to subsidize the cost of playing with cars. Loeb recalled: "At that time, my desire to practice driving in the street was too strong. My friends and I have been partying in the street since 5 pm ―― we sometimes skip classes. I started working to earn money to take part in competitions, and then I didn't go back to school. I went to a technical school, and then started to work as an electrician until the end of 1999. My boss is very good. When I was going to the rally, he promised that I could not go to work. Of course, I can only get paid if I work. For a few months, my salary will not exceed 150 euros. " 1995 One day, he learned that the French Automobile Sports Federation (FFSA) has a project called "Youth Rally", which is mainly to discover and train new French rally players. Loeb, 2 1 year-old, decided to sign up with 100 francs. Unfortunately, Loeb failed to enter the judges' sight, even though he was the fastest runner. He lost the election. Loeb doesn't know why he is so unlucky or why he is unfair. Loeb, who didn't give up, continued to participate in the second year. Loeb, who has always performed best, was hit by a car in a decisive game and was eliminated again. This is a serious blow to Loeb's self-confidence. He feels that everything he has worked so hard for is in vain. "On that day, I firmly believed that I would never mention a rally again in my life." Loeb said.
1997, Loeb's three friends decided to start their ambitious "star-making plan". They used all their savings to buy Loeb a popular Peugeot 106 racing car (engine displacement 1300cc). Loeb rekindled hope, and he felt strongly that he needed to be recognized. His navigator is Daniel? Irene. This year, Loeb won all the competitions in his team, but failed to attract others' attention. After all, this is a very junior and amateur game. Loeb's loyal friends won't let the racing career he just started end. They borrowed money everywhere, even mortgaged their property, and bought a Citroen SAXO KITCAR with a loan. It is a powerful two-wheel drive, but there is no turbocharging. "They will only do this if they trust me completely." Loeb said. Loeb didn't have a good time in the "Citroen Saxony Challenge". He smashed two bodies at first. Although one of them was insured, Loeb and his family had no money to repair the other one. After hard work, finally a Citroen agent was willing to pay for Loeb's new car body, and Loeb saw the light in the dark. Many years later, a friend of Loeb still clearly remembers the game: "He had to win, but it was cruel. There was mud everywhere and it was raining heavily, but Loeb finally won the race, and his performance was the best among all drivers. " Loeb spent 0.2 million/200 thousand francs in this year's competition, but he finally won.
During 1998, Loeb wants to participate in a higher level competition. During his stay in WRC Italy, Loeb asked Lal Rideal, editor-in-chief of French Rally magazine, to introduce himself to the bosses of various teams, but no one paid any attention to him.
1999, under the sponsorship of a Citroen agent, Loeb continued to participate in the Citroen SAXO KITCAR Challenge, and he won the championship of the event. In the same year, with the support of FFSA, Loeb participated in three world races of Citroen SAXO, which further demonstrated his talent for pulling carts. He won two games in San Remo and Corsica, ranking first in his class. At this point, Loeb firmly set a higher goal for himself.
In 2000, Loeb decided to take part in the French rally championship and sponsored 55,000 francs, which surprised his friends. Loeb has his own purpose. He will test whether he can make a perfect "road book" in the only road test opportunity in each competition, and then he will definitely follow the road book in the competition. Loeb will continue to improve his left-foot braking skills in the competition, and his left foot will continue to control the throttle with his right foot, so as not to affect the speed, especially on cornering or wet roads. There is no doubt that this is a very profound knowledge. After the end of this season, Loeb, who drove Citroen SAXO KNCAR, won the championship of the two-wheel drive group.
Loeb, who is working hard, is finally coming out!
Maxima meets Bole Loeb and enters the first-class ranks.
There's an old saying in China that swift horses are common, but Bole is not. Loeb is a swift horse, Loeb is lucky.
Loeb's outstanding performance in 2000 attracted the attention of a man who brought an epoch-making driver to the world rally. This man is Guy, the boss of Citroen? Fairquin Fairquin, with a unique vision, saw Loeb's hidden great potential and decided to make him a great driver who led Citroen to create great achievements. Therefore, Fairquin began to sponsor Loeb to participate in as many competitions as possible. 200 1, Loeb's goal was even more impressive, and he easily won the annual championship of the French rally. After joining Citroen, Loeb won the FIA Super 1600cc annual championship with Citroen Xsara.
200 1, at WRC station in San Remo, France, Citroen team delivered an XsaraWRC chariot to Loeb. At that time, the main drivers of Citroen were Bugarski and Pula. Maybe this is the test of Loeb's fate. The two main drivers retired from the race the next day. Loeb fought alone, fearless, and finally won the runner-up, only slower than the then "French Rally King" Panez (driving a Peugeot car) 1 1s4. Loeb put on a perfect WRC premiere.
From June 5th to1October 5th, 2002, WRC Monte Carlo Station. The same history was repeated, and two of Loeb's teammates retired again. At the critical moment, Loeb stepped forward and was determined to defend the dignity of Citroen. Loeb, like a god, once occupied an absolute advantage, even the four-time world champion Machinin was far behind. Loeb finished the race with a lead of 45S9, but he didn't win. Loeb was fined two minutes for changing a tire illegally in the refueling area, and he was only in second place. However, after a severe test, Loeb has completely won the trust of Fairquin and successfully became the main driver of Citroen. Loeb said, "I will never forget the experience after Monte Carlo in 2002." In fact, people also think that Loeb is the real winner of the Monte Carlo competition. Half a year later, Loeb defeated makinen and other experts in German station and won the championship, which was his first championship in WRC.
In 2003, Loeb walked up a flight of stairs. In the first race of Monte Carlo, Loeb won the championship by driving Citroen WRC. Since then, he has been the champion of Turkey and Italy. In the last battle, the British Citroen team ordered Loeb to adopt conservative tactics in order to win the annual championship. Loeb finally won the runner-up of the year with a total score of 7 1 point behind Salberg's 1 point. It can be said that this is a runner-up with high gold content. Among Loeb's competitors, there are world-class rally drivers who have long been famous, such as Salberg, sainz, McRae, Burns, Granholm and so on.
Only three years after joining WRC, Loeb led Citroen to win the highest honor in the history of the team, which means Loeb has entered the ranks of first-class drivers. Fairqueen was right. He gave Loeb a chance, and Loeb also gave this Bole a great miracle.
However, this is only the beginning of Loeb's legendary journey.
From 2004 to 2007, we created four consecutive championships.
Before the start of the 2004 season, Loeb said, "This will be a brand-new year." Loeb set a new record in this brand-new season. In Monte Carlo and Sweden, Loeb won the games in succession. These typical ice and snow races are generally the stage for experienced Nordic drivers, but Loeb told everyone that he can run not only asphalt roads, but also ice and snow roads. At this point, Loeb has also become the third driver in WRC history to win the Monte Carlo and Sweden races in a row. The Swedish championship broke the situation that Nordic drivers monopolized Nordic ice and snow events. In fact, this great achievement in the eyes of other drivers seems to be just a fact for Loeb.
In the 16 competition in 2004, Loeb 14 scored points and won the championship in the first 4 or 6 times and the runner-up in 6 times. Such "high efficiency" is extremely rare in WRC. Loeb won the championship in three different road races: asphalt, ice, snow and sand. Looking around the world, there are very few drivers with such comprehensive ability. In 2004, Loeb won the first annual driver championship in his career. Some people have only four words for Loeb's performance in 2004: unbelievable!
However, in Loeb's view, what impressed him most was not the victory again and again, but the scene where his family and friends came to the scene to cheer for him in the WRC Corsica race. Loeb said: "In Corsica, I experienced the greatest moment of my life at the end of the game. My girlfriend Sevina, my parents and all my friends are here. They also brought champagne! I have discovered what is the greatest happiness, that is, when you make your family and friends feel great happiness, you will feel this happiness. "
Loeb set another record in 2005. After winning the championship in Monte Carlo, Loeb started a more unusual season. Loeb won six consecutive games in New Zealand, Italy, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece and Argentina, setting a winning streak for WRC. Later, he won the races in Germany, Japan and Spain, and won the annual championship with a total score of 127 (56 points ahead of the second Salberg). In the face of such achievements, there is no need to decorate with any gorgeous rhetoric.
In 2006, Citroen bid farewell to WRC, and Loeb came to the private team Colonas, but he still got strong support from Citroen Sports Department. Loeb won five consecutive championships in Mexico, Spain, France, Argentina and Italy, second only to the six consecutive championships in 2005. This achievement has not been achieved in WRC. After winning the championship in Germany, Japan and Cyprus, Loeb has been 35 points ahead of his strongest rival, Gronholm. However, after the race in Cyprus, 1014 October, Loeb accidentally broke his arm while riding a bicycle for training. At this time, there are still four stops left in the competition, namely Turkey, Australia, New Zealand and Britain. It is impossible for Loeb to continue to participate in the competition. This is a great opportunity for Gronholm to make a comeback. But if he wants to score at least 36 points, he must win three champions and 1 runner-up or 1 runner-up. Even Gronholm admitted that it was "really difficult". Loeb was a little nervous after Glenholm won the championship in Turkey, and then Glenholm was overturned in Australia. Finally, he won the fifth place. At this time, Loeb is 2 1 point ahead of Granholm. Even if Gronholm won the remaining two games, he was still 65,438+0 points behind Loeb. Therefore, the trophy of the champion of the year was reserved for Loeb who was recovering at home in advance.
This is the third time Loeb has won the annual championship. Loeb won eight championships in the 12 competition. Since winning the first WRC substation championship in Germany in 2002, the 32-year-old Frenchman has won 28 substation championships, which is another new record in the history of WRC. In 2005 and 2006, Loeb climbed the podium at 65,438+02 consecutive stops (the third in each stop), and the original record holder, Spanish sainz, climbed 65,438+0990 for seven consecutive times.
Loeb still clearly remembers waiting for the news of the last four games at home. Loeb watched the whole game in Turkey on TV, and Gronholm's monopoly made him feel unbearable. So, he decided not to watch the TV broadcast of the Australian race, but to talk to the team boss on the phone to find out about the race. On June 27th, 2006 10, Glenholm overturned in the third stage, but Loeb didn't see it. In the end, the old rival only got the fifth place, and there was no chance to compete with Loeb for the annual championship. Later, Gronholm admitted that he felt great pressure: "It is not easy to compete with Loeb. Even if he is not on the track, I still feel that I am competing with him. I still find it difficult to beat him. "
Loeb, whose left arm was bandaged, opened a bottle of champagne and raised his glass to celebrate his third annual championship with his wife. "This is a special victory. I am very happy that I can successfully defend my title, but I am sorry because this championship was not won on the field. " Loeb didn't forget to send a text message to his old rival and good friend Gronholm, joking and thanking him. And Gronholm wrote back to him, saying in a joking tone: Only this is the best arrangement, because this champion should belong to you!
Loeb entered 2007 with three consecutive championships. The question everyone cares about is not whether he can win the championship four times in a row, but whether Loeb can defend the annual championship with several sub-station champions. Different from previous years, Loeb used a brand-new Citroen C4 chariot in 2007. After winning the first race in Monte Carlo, Loeb failed to rally in the next races in Sweden and Norway to create the myth of the battle of ice and snow again. However, after returning to Mexico and Portugal in a typical sand road, Loeb swept the championship, and his personal total score exceeded Granholm. In Italy, Loeb, who led the way, made a rare mistake and rushed into the ditch to retire in the 13 stage. Loeb failed to beat Glenholm in Greece and Finland, which made him very depressed. But Germany is a typical asphalt road, which is his strong point. In fact, Loeb also won the competition, and at the same time, he set a new WRC record: Loeb monopolized the championship for six years since Germany entered the WRC calendar in 2002. New Zealand is perhaps the most exciting and intense competition. Loeb and Gronholm started fighting as soon as they came up, and they were in the lead. At each stage, the gap between them is within a few seconds, even 1. You come and go, and the dominance is frequently exchanged between them. No one can sit firmly in the first place. Until the last super stage, Granholm was 0.4s ahead of Loeb, although Loeb was in the last stage. In Catalonia, Spain and Corsica, France, Loeb continued to narrow the gap with Granholm by winning the championship: only four points behind. Loeb and Glenholm tied in Japan: they retired one after another. In Ireland, Loeb took advantage of Granholm's mistake to retire and win the championship firmly, surpassing Granholm by 6 points, once again taking the initiative in the annual championship competition. The last game came to Wales, England. Loeb fought calmly, and the third place was enough to ensure defending the title. In the 2007 16 competition, Loeb won the championship eight times.
At this point, Loeb achieved four consecutive championships, which is enough to become a legend. However, it is easier to win the game than to win the respect of others. Loeb did it all. After hearing the news that Loeb tied his fourth consecutive championship, makinen thought: "His fourth consecutive championship is an incredible miracle, which not only depends on the technical input of a team, but also requires drivers to have extraordinary psychological quality." Kankkunen, another king of rally, said: "Loeb fully deserves this champion. He is a talented driver and the best driver in the world today! " Loeb himself said: "I always want to be the fastest one, and I can't even win the runner-up with peace of mind." Perhaps it is this indomitable character that made me win the first championship in 2004 and the fourth championship until now! "
Unlike makinen and Kankkunen, who have already bid farewell to WRC, Loeb will play in WRC for many years. Who can compete with Loeb after Glenholm retires? Nobody! This may be sad for WRC, because there is really no equal competitor to compete with it. Suppose 33-year-old Loeb, like Glenholm, retires at 39, which is still six years. God, can Loeb win six annual championships in six years? Then 10 will win the championship! ……
The 2008 season is about to begin. Please build a crown for Loeb at the end of the year, because he has surpassed makinen, Kankkunen and others in record. In driving skills, Loeb is not only gifted, but also able to better grasp his own limits and the limits of racing cars. As a man, this French driver is low-key, humble, steady, diligent, never giving up, loving his family and being single-minded.
So, please don't ask Loeb how far is it from Rally the Great? Because he already is.