Sebastien Ogier hailed the 2025 campaign as his “strongest” in the World Rally Championship and is “super proud” to match Sebastien Loeb’s record of nine world titles.
Ogier sealed a stunning ninth crown after finishing third in an intense Rally Saudi Arabia finale, beating Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans by four points after a thrilling tussle.
The title success came following an incredible run of results for Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais despite sitting out three rallies (Sweden, Kenya and Estonia) following a decision to contest a partial season.
Ogier started 11 events this year, winning six while finishing outside of the podium once following a crash at the Central European Rally. According to the 41-year-old, the year is potentially his best campaign ever.
The last time Ogier won more than six rallies in a season came in 2016, while his most dominant campaign - his first title in 2013 with Volkswagen - included nine wins and just two rallies where he was off the podium.
“It has been an incredible run this year and probably the strongest I’ve ever had in the sport in the end,” Ogier said. “Of course, I did three less rallies and some rallies I benefitted a bit from the start position, but the truth is many drivers in the championship benefit much more than that. Actually because of this incredible run I was so far up in the championship and was starting second in Greece for example.
“It has been a pretty incredible run and it is never going to be easy to repeat this kind of performance.
“I have had some great seasons in my career already and working with fantastic teams and obviously the Volkswagen era was very successful, and they were some super strong seasons, but this one is right at the top, maybe the best.”
Securing the ultimate prize in rallying has placed Ogier alongside Loeb as the most successful driver in the championship’s history with nine titles. While matching Loeb has never been a target, Ogier admitted achieving such a record never seemed achievable at the start of his career.
“Of course super happy and super proud to join Seb [Loeb] and Daniel Elena at the top of the WRC rankings. When I started in 2008 of course it was never a target to try and achieve that. I think many people, and me included, thought these kinds of numbers would probably never be matched and it will take a while, and now here I am.
“But at the same time it has never been a fixation, and after four years ago, when I won my last title in 2021, I made a cross next to this target and never really set this target.
“I’m proud to join the nine-title club but super happy to welcome a new member in the world champion club as Vincent [Landais] has been doing a fantastic job for three years now. Before the event I felt more pressure to achieve it for him than myself.”
Landais added: “It will take time for this to sink in. I’m very proud of what we have done this year and it was a perfect season I would say. When I joined him, I had a certain level but the level I have now is completely different. He [Seb] has made me an even better co-driver.”
Ogier announced shortly after the finish of Rally Saudi Arabia that he will contest 10 rallies with Toyota in 2026.
Ogier set for partial season again in 2026
“One thing is for sure: I don’t have the motivation anymore to go a full year,” explained Ogier.
“It makes such a difference when you have this couple of weeks more at home and also especially this year I had to miss, for the first time, one holiday week with my son and it was during Rally Japan. So it was worth the trip, I needed those points, but yeah it didn’t feel so great and I want to avoid that as much as I can.
“So that’s why I announced next year I won’t be competing when he has holiday. I just found a great balance like this. I will announce it now because I just wanted to stop the speculation of when is he coming or not and sometimes I feel exhausted with that.
“And I want also to close the mouth of the people who just say, ‘oh he just comes when he feels it’s easier or whatever’ so just simple: you look the calendar, when it’s a German school holiday I won’t be there and otherwise I will make 10 rallies, and that’s it.”
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