Elena began his rallying career in 1992 as a co-driver to Christophe Bovini. His first full season was in 1996 with Hervé Bernard in the French national championships. In 1998, he became Sébastien Loeb's co-driver, and they quickly formed a strong partnership. In 1998, they won every event they finished in the Citroën Saxo Trophy, and they secured the overall trophy in 1999. With partial support from Citroën, they won the two-wheel drive class of the French gravel title in 2000. In 2001, they achieved victories in both the FIA Super 1600 championship (later J-WRC) in their Citroën Saxo and the French national championship in a Citroën Xsara Kit Car. Their success made them a natural choice for Citroën's WRC team, and they made their debut for the manufacturer in the same year, finishing second overall at the 2001 San Remo Rally. Their 2002 season included their first win at Rallye Deutschland, and they became full-time competitors in 2003. Competing as teammates to former champions Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz, Loeb and Elena outscored them both, finishing the season second overall. They went on to win nine consecutive World Rally Championship titles between 2004 and 2012. Loeb retired from the series in 2013.
When Sébastien Loeb returned from WRC retirement in 2018, the pair reunited with Citroën for three events, winning Rally Catalunya. Hyundai Motorsport offered Loeb a two-year contract for a few events in 2019 and 2020, with Elena once again as his co-driver.
Between 2016 and 2019, Loeb entered the Dakar Rally with Elena as his co-driver in a modified Peugeot 3008, reaching the podium twice. In 2021, the pair competed in a Prodrive built car but had to retire. Two months later, Elena announced on social media that he had been effectively dismissed by Loeb at Prodrive's request due to the poor Dakar result. This marked the separation of the rally's most successful pairing after 23 years of collaboration.
Elena has also competed in a few rallies as a driver, including the Monte-Carlo Rally, but only within France.
Loeb and Elena have won Elena's home rally, the Monte Carlo Rally, seven times (2003–2005, 2007–2008, 2012–2013).
Elena was the first recipient of the Michael Park Trophy, which is now awarded annually to the best co-driver.
Elena is divorced and has two daughters, Romane and Dorine, with his former wife. He and his partner, Anaïs Reyne, welcomed a daughter, Joy, on 9 October 2020.
Elena is a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, a group of 54 elite athletes committed to promoting peace through sport, established by Peace and Sport, an international organization based in Monaco.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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