Loeb was born in Haguenau and grew up in Oberhoffen-sur-Moder, the only child of Guy and Ingrid Loeb. He broke off school in 1992 but resumed studies in 1994, aiming at vocational training in electrical engineering. On 12 September 1994 he began work as an electrician at the Socalec company near Haguenau Airport, already noted for a reckless driving style. His boss was himself fascinated by speed and owned a Ferrari Testarossa 512 TR. In 1995, at age 21, Loeb quit his job and classes and committed fully to racing.
Loeb began entering events in the French Citroën Saxo Trophy series in 1998 and won the title in 1999. Guy Fréquelin, Citroën Sport's team principal, became his mentor as he entered the Junior World Rally Championship in 2001. Loeb won the JWRC title — the series' first champion — by winning five of the six events. The one event he did not win was Rallye Sanremo, for which he was promoted to the WRC class, driving a Citroën Xsara WRC alongside Philippe Bugalski and Jesús Puras. In only his third rally with a World Rally Car he ran second behind Peugeot tarmac specialist Gilles Panizzi.
The 2002 season was Loeb's first with the Citroën World Rally Team, though the team only contested seven rounds. Loeb provisionally won the Monte Carlo Rally but Citroën later withdrew an appeal against a two-minute penalty for an illegal tyre change, and Subaru's Tommi Mäkinen took a record fourth consecutive Monte Carlo win. Loeb then claimed his maiden WRC victory at Rallye Deutschland, edging out Peugeot's Richard Burns.
In 2003, his first full WRC season, Loeb won Monte Carlo, Germany, and Sanremo. He lost the championship to Petter Solberg by a single point at the Wales Rally Great Britain; his team had instructed him not to chase Solberg so as not to jeopardise Citroën's constructors' lead. Through the season he defeated more celebrated teammates Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae.
In 2004, Loeb dominated the WRC in a manner compared to Michael Schumacher's contemporary dominance of Formula One, winning six events and finishing runner-up six times to secure the drivers' title 36 points clear of Solberg. His six victories tied the record held by fellow Frenchman Didier Auriol, who had won six events in 1992. He also secured Citroën's second consecutive manufacturers' title.
Originally regarded as a tarmac specialist, 2004 was the year Loeb proved himself across surfaces. He won the Swedish Rally on snow, becoming the first non-Nordic driver to win that event. He triumphed on gravel in Cyprus, Turkey, and Australia, and continued his run on tarmac in Monte Carlo and Germany.
In 2005, with victory in Argentina, Loeb became the first driver to win six consecutive WRC rallies, surpassing Timo Salonen's record of four from 1985. He went on to win seven events in a season, surpassing his and Auriol's previous record of six. During the Wales Rally Great Britain, after the final two stages were abandoned following the death of co-driver Michael Park in an accident on stage 15, Loeb deliberately incurred a two-minute penalty to avoid retaining the title under those circumstances, then secured it at the following rally in Japan by finishing second behind Peugeot's Marcus Grönholm.
He extended his win total to ten and took the title with a 56-point margin, breaking a 25-year-old record held by Walter Röhrl over Hannu Mikkola in 1980. He also won all twelve stages of the Tour de Corse — the first driver to win every stage of a WRC rally — and set records for consecutive podium finishes and consecutive points-scoring finishes.
Citroën's parent company, PSA Peugeot Citroën, withdrew both manufacturers from the WRC after 2005, but Loeb continued in 2006 with the Citroën-sponsored Kronos Racing team under the name Kronos Total Citroën World Rally Team. He won five rallies, including Rally Mexico and Rallye Deutschland — where he tied Carlos Sainz's record of 26 individual WRC victories before surpassing it with his 27th win in Japan. He broke his right humerus in a mountain-biking accident near his Swiss home and missed the final four rallies. He received the news of his championship — won by one point when Marcus Grönholm failed to finish third or better in Australia — via an internet video link to the rally headquarters, making do with early morning coffee instead of champagne.
For 2007 Loeb returned as a factory Citroën driver with the new Citroën C4 WRC. He won the 75th Monte Carlo Rally at the first attempt with the new car, but a crash in Norway and a suspension-breaking ditch at Rally d'Italia Sardinia cost him heavily. At Rally New Zealand he finished only 0.3 seconds behind his rival — the second closest win in WRC history. He secured his fourth consecutive title at the final round in Wales after Grönholm retired in Ireland, leaving Loeb one point clear going into the finale.
Loeb took a record fifth Monte Carlo win to open 2008. He won Rally Finland, only the fourth time in the event's 58-year history that a non-Nordic driver had won — after Carlos Sainz in 1990, Didier Auriol in 1992, and Markko Märtin in 2003. Going into the penultimate round at Rally Japan, leading Mikko Hirvonen by 14 points, Loeb finished third — enough to break the records for most world titles held by Juha Kankkunen, Tommi Mäkinen, and his own previous mark of four, becoming the first five-time world champion in rally history.
In 2009, Loeb won Rally Ireland for the second time, then took his first Rally Norway victory in a battle that lasted to the very final stage, winning by 9.8 seconds over Hirvonen. Victory in Cyprus was his career 50th. He clinched the title with victory at the final round, the Rally GB, after overturning a one-point deficit with a decisive burst over stages 8 and 9.
In 2010, Loeb won Rallye Deutschland for the eighth consecutive time — the first driver to win a single WRC rally eight times in a row — and clinched a record-extending seventh consecutive title with victory at his home Rallye de France, held in his hometown of Haguenau. He ended the season with 105 points over runner-up Jari-Matti Latvala.
In 2011, now driving a Citroën DS3 WRC, Loeb became the first non-Nordic driver to win Rally Finland twice, in the event's 60-year history. He secured his eighth consecutive title at the Wales Rally GB after championship rival Mikko Hirvonen suffered engine failure. That title moved Loeb ahead of seven-time champion Michael Schumacher in terms of major motorsport championships won.
In 2012, Loeb secured his ninth and final consecutive title at his home Rallye de France. German magazine Auto Bild noted he was now two championships clear of Schumacher and equal to Valentino Rossi. He announced his retirement from full-time WRC participation later that same year. Citroën took its eighth manufacturers' title alongside him.
Loeb contested five rallies in 2013, winning Monte Carlo and Argentina. In 2015 he returned for Monte Carlo and finished eighth after a crash. In 2018 he drove three rounds for Citroën and won Rally Catalunya, his last victory with the team. He joined the Hyundai World Rally Team for a part-time 2019 programme, taking a podium in Chile and winning the non-championship Rallye du Var with partner Laurène Godey as co-driver. In 2020, two rounds with Hyundai yielded sixth at Monte Carlo and a podium in Turkey; he then left the team.
On 29 November 2021, long-time co-driver Daniel Elena announced his retirement. Loeb tested the Ford Puma Rally1 for M-Sport Ford and announced a part-time programme for 2022 with new co-driver Isabelle Galmiche.
At the 2022 Monte Carlo Rally, having barely recovered from the Dakar Rally and with minimal time behind the wheel of a WRC car since 2018, Loeb battled Ogier throughout and won his 80th WRC victory by 10.5 seconds after Ogier received a 10-second jumpstart penalty on the final stage. Loeb became the oldest driver to lead and win a WRC rally; Galmiche became the first woman co-driver to win a WRC event since Fabrizia Pons in 1997. In 2023, Loeb and Godey won the Azores Rallye on their first attempt, driving a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2.
Loeb made his Dakar Rally debut in 2016, driving a Peugeot 2008 DKR. He led by seven minutes and 48 seconds but lost the lead to teammate Stéphane Peterhansel in stage 6 and finished ninth, more than two hours behind. At the 2017 Dakar he achieved his career-best finish of second, winning five stages and finishing just five minutes behind Peterhansel. In 2018, co-driver Elena suffered a tailbone injury and the pair retired on day five. In 2019, with a private Red Bull-backed 2017 Peugeot 3008 DKR, Loeb and Elena finished third with four stage wins.
Loeb did not compete in the 2020 Dakar. In 2021 he debuted for the Prodrive-run Bahrain Raid Xtreme team, receiving a five-minute speeding penalty and then retiring in stage 8 after two punctures left him stranded for five hours.
At the inaugural 2022 World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC), with new co-driver Belgian Fabian Lurquin in the BRX Hunter, Loeb finished second at Dakar — 27 minutes and 48 seconds behind Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel — despite multiple mechanical issues. He earned his first rally-raid victory at the Andalucía Rally, becoming the only driver to have won an event in four different FIA-affiliated world championships. He finished second in the overall W2RC standings, 20 points behind Al-Attiyah.
In the 2023 Dakar, again second to Al-Attiyah, Loeb won seven stages including six consecutive victories from stage 8 to 13 — a Dakar Rally record. Multiple punctures on stage 2, a trackrod breakage, and a minor crash hampered his challenge.
As his WRC stature grew, Loeb entered road racing. He first competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2005, driving for the Pescarolo Sport team's number 17 entry; he reportedly prepared using laps of the circuit in the PlayStation 2 game Gran Turismo 4 aboard a private jet. In 2006 he finished second overall in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Pescarolo-Judd, between the two Diesel-powered Audi R10s. In 2012 he launched Sébastien Loeb Racing, which competed in the FFSA GT series and the European Le Mans Series.
In 2013 Loeb competed in the FIA GT Series for Sébastien Loeb Racing, which entered two McLaren MP4-12C cars. Paired with Portuguese driver Álvaro Parente, he took three qualifying race wins and one championship race win, finishing fourth overall. He also raced in two Porsche Supercup rounds at Barcelona and Monaco as support events to the 2013 Formula One season.
In June 2013 it was confirmed that Citroën would enter the FIA World Touring Car Championship in 2014 with Loeb driving. He was partnered by four-time WTCC champion Yvan Muller, José María López, and Ma Qing Hua. In his first full season of circuit racing Loeb won two races and scored six podiums, finishing third behind champion López and runner-up Muller. In 2015 he scored four wins and twelve podiums, again finishing third with 61 more points.
On 29 February 2016, Loeb joined factory-backed Team Peugeot-Hansen for all twelve rounds of the FIA World Rallycross Championship alongside Timmy Hansen. He took his maiden rallycross world championship victory in the Latvian round on 2 October 2016, finished fifth in the Supercar standings, and accumulated four podiums and six top-five finishes. He scored six podiums in 2017 but no wins, finishing fourth. In his final full season he won at the World RX of Belgium and again finished fourth overall. He returned with Team Special One in 2023, but a fire destroyed his car, his teammate Guerlane Chicherit's car, and the team's truck before the World RX of Britain, ending their season.
In 2021, competing for Lewis Hamilton's Team X44 alongside Spanish driver Cristina Gutiérrez, Loeb and Gutiérrez finished second behind Rosberg X Racing's Johan Kristoffersson and Molly Taylor; the teams finished level on points but were separated by wins. In 2022, Team X44 retained the pairing and won the Extreme E Championship by two points over Rosberg X Racing with one race win, four podiums, one pole, and 86 points.
In April 2013, Loeb tested the Peugeot 208 T16 — a lightweight 875 kg vehicle using the rear wing of the Peugeot 908 and a 3.2-litre twin-turbo V6 developing 875 bhp — at Mont Ventoux. He won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with a time of 8:13.878, smashing the previous record by a minute and a half. His record was later broken by nearly 15 seconds by Romain Dumas driving the Volkswagen I.D. R in 2018.
Loeb won the Race of Champions individual title five times: 2003 (beating Marcus Grönholm in the final), 2005 (beating Tom Kristensen), 2008 (becoming the second driver to win more than twice), 2022 (defeating Sebastian Vettel 3–1 in the final, equalling Didier Auriol's record of four wins), and 2025 (beating Supercars Championship driver Chaz Mostert 2–0 in the final). In 2004 he won the Nations' Cup for France alongside Jean Alesi. In 2025 he again won the Nations' Cup alongside Formula Two driver Victor Martins, defeating Team Supercars (Australia). Loeb is the first driver to win both the Nations' Cup and the Race of Champions within the same event.
In July 2012, Loeb debuted at X Games XVIII in Los Angeles. With Marcus Grönholm hospitalised following a practice accident, Loeb won the rallycross gold medal well ahead of Ken Block, who suffered a puncture.
Loeb first tested for Renault F1 at Paul Ricard in December 2007, in a swap in which Heikki Kovalainen tested Loeb's WRC car. Red Bull, as major sponsor of the Citroën factory team during 2008, rewarded Loeb with a test in the Red Bull RB4, first at Silverstone and then at the first official Formula One winter test in Barcelona, where he was eighth quickest of seventeen drivers. He stated an interest in replacing Sébastien Bourdais at Toro Rosso for the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but was not granted an FIA Super Licence as he had not done sufficient circuit racing at lower levels. He also participated in a GP2 Series test session after the 2009 season with David Price Racing, finishing last of 25 drivers.
Loeb grew up in Oberhoffen-sur-Moder. He was previously married to Séverine Meny, who ran the Loeb Events hospitality operation during most rallies and occasionally co-drove for non-championship races; the couple have a daughter. They reportedly separated in 2019. Loeb's partner is Laurène Godey, who co-drives for him at times. He resides near Lausanne, Switzerland. He was made a Knight of the Légion d'honneur on 27 May 2009 by French president Nicolas Sarkozy. He was named French Sportsman of the Year in 2007 and 2009.
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