Memories of life with Loeb

Is it real? Is he really going?

We've had seven rallies this year to come to terms with it, yet it still feels strange.

Sebastien Loeb is leaving the building. Come Sunday, to the rallying world he'll be just a nine-time world champion has-been.

I've been fortunate enough to report on every one of Loeb's 78 World Rally Championship wins, and I've only missed out on a handful of his 167 starts. He's been there throughout my career as a World Rally reporter and I'll admit there have been times - particularly in 2006, '08 or '10 - when I honestly wondered if we'd be better off without him.

But we won't be. He's the benchmark, the best of the best. And a title race with Sebastien Ogier this season would have been sensational. Their genius almost overlapped, but not quite.

Sunday will be strange. For such a monumentally successful driver, Loeb doesn't really do emotion. Never, not once, has he shed a tear at a stage end or press conference. But this weekend, when quietness descends over the Strasbourg service park, the moment will surely catch up with Seb. He's ruled our world for a decade and he's ruled it well.

Before he goes, I've dusted down some of my fondest memories of the big little man from Alsace. I could have gone for 10, but I've gone for nine, just in case something special happens this week...

It all started with a Saxo... © LAT

1 AN UNLIKELY CHAMPION

To the uninitiated, Sebastien Loeb has nine world titles. To the hardcore, he'll always have 10. That 10th (actually his first) title was arguably his most impressive - the 2001 FIA Cup for Super 1600 Drivers title.

When Loeb lined up against 22 other Super 1600 competitors, he certainly didn't stand out. Yes, he'd managed a couple of top-10s in Corsica and Sanremo driving a sorted Toyota Corolla WRC, but he was up against Rudi Stohl's lad Manfred and rapid Italian Andrea Dallavilla. It didn't take long for Loeb's pedigree to show.

He won the opener in Catalunya by almost three minutes. But that was asphalt...

Round two, the Acropolis, would sort him out. Hmm, not so much. Despite the sump guard falling off his Citroen Saxo twice, he still won by almost three minutes.

OK, so he was good on the rocky roads, but with only one previous trip to Finland he was about to get found out on the 1000 Lakes. Not quite. He won by more than five minutes.

In the end, he skipped a round (see below), scored the perfect 50 for five from five, and caned runner-up Dallavilla to the tune of 20 points.

Loeb was that good from the start.

Loeb was extraordinary in horrible conditions on his top-level debut in Sanremo in 2001 © LAT

2 SO CLOSE IN SANREMO

There's a common misconception that Loeb's debut in a Citroen Xsara came in Sanremo 2001. It didn't.

He'd spent that season slaughtering allcomers in the French Rally Championship in one of the beautiful Xsara kit cars - a rally-tuned racer with a pitch-perfect song courtesy of its free-breathing two-litre motor. Of the eight French rounds he started, he won six and crashed on two in a Piedrafita Sport-run car. With a record like that, allied to perfection in the Saxo, it was no wonder he was given a shot in a third Xsara WRC for Sanremo.

"To be honest," says Loeb, recalling his Italian run, "I was hoping for a good result, as I had more or less matched Bug's [Philippe Bugalski, then Citroen driver] times in testing. After the first stage I was four seconds off the lead pace, despite not having really pushed. So, despite my confidence, that came as quite a surprise."

Loeb remained close to the front, while fellow Xsara men Jesus Puras and Bugalski went out on consecutive stages. A podium beckoned, and then the rain came...

Loeb pushed harder, passed Didier Auriol for second and went hunting for a win. He'd started the penultimate stage 30 seconds behind Gilles Panizzi. That run through San Romolo and over Monte Ceppo was shocking, and he claimed some famous scalps, including Tommi Makinen's.

Despite the conditions, Loeb took 20 of Panizzi's 30 seconds. In the end he settled for second, and his decision paid dividends.

"Before the rally," Loeb adds, "I had been sending faxes to the manufacturers just to remind them that I was around. After Sanremo, everybody called me up to try and get me to sign for a full season."

Loeb and Elena didn't get to keep these trophies © LAT

3 MONTE, THE WIN THAT NEVER WAS

That Citroen illegally changed the tyres on Xsara WRC #21 at final service on the second day of the 2002 Monte Carlo Rally is proven.

That Loeb was handed a two-minute penalty, dropping him from first to second, is recorded. It still irks Loeb.

On the road, he'd won this rally. For a while, he referred to it as his half-win - with some justification.

There are those who took issue with Citroen's slightly underhand tactics and the Automobile Club de Monaco's acceptance of a champagne celebration for a winner under appeal, but that detracts from Loeb's performance in the French Alps.

Yes, he knew the roads quite well from driving a Xsara kit car down those lanes in the French championship, but his chief rival was no stranger to the Alps either: Tommi Makinen had won the Monte for the previous three years, and would eventually win it in 2002.

That year, Loeb hit the front on Sisteron on the first day and stayed there until the finish. Citroen deserved everything it got, but Loeb was gutted to have a historic first World Rally win stripped.

Fortunately, Citroen bounced back with a Monte podium lockout in 2003. Loeb recalls the result with particular glee. "This is probably the whole team's fondest memory," he said. "We dominated the podium at the most famous rally in the world.

"At the time Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae were the benchmarks, and having two World Rally champions as team-mates was a little bit intimidating. There was always a good atmosphere between us, even when I started to get the better of them in terms of results. They made a big difference to me, and to Citroen."

The Grecian rocks were no problem for Loeb and the Citroen © LAT

4 ACROPOLIS TEST, 2002

Loeb was down at Chateau Lastours in France, shaking his Citroen to see what fell off before the team's first Acropolis Rally run. I joined him. This wasn't my first time alongside the then-winless Frenchman; a dash around an airfield in a souped-up Saxo had, I thought, given me a clear insight into what he was capable of.

Who was I kidding?

"OK?" said Loeb, fiddling with diff dials and mapping programmes, as we trundled into a downhill wooded section that loosely marked the start of the stage.

I was still playing with the belts and looking out of the window when my head was cannoned back into the seat in a seemingly endless onset of torque. I binned the window and focused firmly on tightening the straps.

With a half-smile Loeb cranked us into the first big-gear corner. I couldn't take my eyes off the rocks that littered our path. Not to mention the potentially spine-shrinking compression that lay in wait for what I'd mentally calculated would be a third-gear corner.

But we were in top, and not about to change down.

Loeb and the Xsara didn't flinch: they flew, and so did I.

Loeb was by no means redefining rallying at that point, but his talent was immediately beyond question. The asphalt kid from Alsace could cut it on the loose.

Becoming champion for the first time at home in 2004

5 CORSICAN CLASSIC

Sebastien Loeb is not a driver known for extravagant gestures.

That made his celebration on the finish podium of the 2004 Tour de Corse all the more exceptional. Five wins in only his second full season in the WRC left him in a position to seal his maiden world title on the French island, and second place was enough to do just that.

Other drivers might swing their cars into donuts or drench the crowd with Moet. Not Loeb. He reverted to his former life as a gymnast and turned the perfect somersault.

Well, why not? You only win your first world title once.

Loeb says: "I sometimes wondered if I was capable of winning the world title. That day, we achieved our goal. The first title was very special, because we secured it in France. Everyone was there: my family, my friends...

"I was pleased that I was able to win it for my father. He didn't say much when we were together, but some journalists told me that he had spoken to them about what it meant to him. I was very proud of what I had just achieved."

Loeb was at home with his dog when he became 2006 champion © LAT

6 LOEB THE DOG LOVER

Loeb's progress through the 2006 season was quite outstanding. Having decided not to move to Ford - a decision he would take a couple of times in his career - he stood by a semi-works, Kronos-run Citroen squad and a red-turned-blue Xsara WRC.

For the first 12 rounds of the season, Loeb didn't finish lower than second and won eight times, leaving him 35 points clear of his nearest rival. In the days of a 10-point win, he could almost afford to take the final four rounds off. Which is exactly what he was forced to do when he fell off his motocross bike and broke his shoulder.

When Marcus Gronholm crashed in Australia, Loeb's extended recuperation was safe. He was champion with two rounds remaining. In an effort for media to deliver on deadlines, Loeb was dialled up via a satellite going direct into the Perth press office in Western Australia.

Unfortunately for Loeb, the link-up went live just as he was trying to kick his dog out of his kitchen. Realising he'd been rumbled, he turned and gave us a world champion hello, while still furtively trying to persuade the dog to leave him to his interview.

Loeb might not have been able to rival Gronholm for comedy moments, but he was able to see the funny side some time later.

Loeb was not impressed with AUTOSPORT in New Zealand three years ago © XPB

7 MEETING FOR A MASSAGE...

While I like him greatly, Loeb's not a driver I've spent much time with away from the stages - the sort of time when journos and competitors can become mates.

But there is one place we both know well, and where we invariably meet. It's one of the best places for a massage in the Far East. But don't worry - this is all above board!

Quite by chance, Loeb and I seemed to share the same Singapore Airlines flight (from opposite ends of the plane...) back from New Zealand and Australia year in, year out. And, while waiting for our London-bound connection, we would head for My Foot reflexology in Singapore's Changi Airport. I always wondered if those smiley Singaporeans had any idea of the value of the 'plates of meat' they were dealing with.

Our brief time in Singapore wasn't always so straightforward. During the 2010 Rally New Zealand, Loeb and I had our only significant falling out. I asked him a question he wasn't up for and refused me an answer. He told me my questions were shit and he wouldn't answer them any more.

I apologised for the context, but not the question. He didn't care. The context was shit as well.

So we went home, and met in My Foot. He smiled, before remembering he didn't like me. I explained my reasoning again and, away from the pressure of competition, he got it. He smiled and we shook hands.

New Zealand was the setting for an incredible comeback drive © LAT

8 THE COMEBACK AND THE QUESTION...

For those wondering about the question that landed me firmly in Loeb's bad books, read on...

Loeb's start to Rally New Zealand hadn't been the best. Running first on the road, even he was forced to surrender to particularly loose Kiwi gravel. Then things got even worse on the final Friday morning stage: Cassidy.

Pushing on and trying to contain the time loss, Loeb drifted wide and into a bridge at the exit of a medium-speed left-hander. His C4 caught the end of the bridge side-on and square in his door. The door was broken and left flapping open.

To add insult to injury, the service that followed was only a remote, which meant he had to work on the car with parts he was carrying with him. And he still had to run first on the road through the afternoon.

The good news for Loeb was that somebody else took over the sweeping duties when the cars turned south on day two. And that's when Loeb turned it on.

This time he wouldn't win the rally, courtesy of an intense final-day fight with Sebastien Ogier, but few will forget what Loeb did on that North Island Saturday in May 2010. He made a mockery of the opposition, lopping time out of them for fun. Two runs through Te Akau were a personal highlight, where he took 36 seconds out of the next best.

Unfortunately, while he was riding the crest of this wave and everybody was congratulating him on the rally of his life, I unearthed some intel that indicated he'd taken his gloves off while trying to get the door shut in Cassidy.

Apparently the onboards had, I was reliably informed, shown Loeb gloveless in the stage. And that usually means a meeting with the stewards and a possible penalty. Confident in my source, I confronted Seb.

Understandably, he didn't like the question. And decided not to answer it.

Looking back, the timing of my question was stupid. But I stand by the fact that my job decreed that it had to be asked. I wasn't given the opportunity to ask again. By then, my questions were deemed shit and not worth listening to.

Unfortunately for Loeb, his demon day-two drive didn't deliver the win he so richly deserved.

Moving the Rally of France into Loeb country proved to be a masterstroke © LAT

9 EMOTIONS HIGH AT HOME

Alsace, the place we're headed for this week, seems a sensible place to leave this look back in time.

Personally, I baulked at the idea of moving France's WRC round from Corsica to Strasbourg. OK, there was the Loeb link, but surely the island rally of 10,000 corners was a cornerstone of the series. And Alsace was... just over the border from Rally Germany.

Yet in 2010 I was converted: I stood in Haguenau and tried to fight my way through literally thousands of fans, friends and family of the new world champion. In the end, a police escort did the decent thing and parted the people to allow the homeboy hero of the hour to make his way to the finish.

Loeb remembers the moment well. "There was a lot of tension for this first running of the Rallye de France in Alsace," he says, "because we had the chance to win both titles. There was pressure on me, but I tried my best not to show it, by withdrawing and blocking it all out.

"I felt very relieved when we made it to the finish. Being crowned champion at home, in Haguenau, was something that I would never have imagined possible. When I met up with [my wife] Severine and my friends on the road section that led back to Strasbourg, I couldn't help but shed a few tears. And that's not something that happens every day, I can tell you."

It's possible that there were more tears when he did the same thing two years later. Especially when Strasbourg's Zenith exhibition centre rocked to Queen's perfect 'We are the champions' soundtrack.

"I was very emotional," he says, "but above all proud to have completed this great journey with Daniel [Elena] and Citroen Racing. Our fans, our families, our team, all the important people for us were there and we had to win it for them. In any case, I never felt sad or had any regrets, because I knew that the end of this journey would mark the start of a new adventure..."

The sentiment will be the same on Sunday afternoon. But sentimentalists will have a field day. And rightly so. After all, it's not every day a true hero says goodbye.