Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
Whs	Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns
State party
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iii, iv, vi
Id	941
Region	Europe and North America
Coordinates
Year	1999
Session	23rd
Danger	}}

Mycenae (Greek ''Mykēnai'' or ''Mykēnē'') is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 11 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north. From the hill on which the palace was located one can see across the Argolid to the Saronic Gulf.

In the second millennium BC Mycenae was one of the major centres of Greek civilization, a military stronghold which dominated much of southern Greece. The period of Greek history from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is called Mycenaean in reference to Mycenae.

Name

The etymology of Mycenae most probably derives from the Greek word ''"μύκης"'' (mycēs) meaning mushroom, and also any knobbed mushroom-shaped body. Pausanias describes how Megapenthes founded the city and named it from the cap（mycēs）from the sheath of his sword. Botanical words such as Mycena, Mycelium, Mycetozoa etc., also derive from ''"μύκης"''.

The reconstructed Mycenaean Greek name of the site is ''Mukānai'', which has the form of a plural like Athānai. The change of ''ā'' to ''ē'' is a development of later Attic-Ionic.

Although the citadel was built by Greeks, the name is not thought to be Greek, but is rather one of the many pre-Greek place names inherited by the immigrant Hellenes. According to John Chadwick the name of Mycanae is of pre-Greek origin. The pre-Greek language remains unknown, but there is no evidence to rule out a member of the Indo-European superfamily. (See ''Pelasgian'', ''Minyans'')

History

Neolithic

Only scattered sherds from disturbed debris have been found datable to the Neolithic (prior to 3500 BC). The site was inhabited but the stratigraphy has been destroyed by later construction.

Early Bronze Age

It is believed that Mycenae was settled close to 2000 BC by Indo-Europeans who practiced farming and herding. Scattered sherds dating to 2100-1700 BC have been found, when Mycenae interacted with Minoan Crete. Other theories suggest the settling of Mycenae a thousand years earlier.

Middle Bronze Age

The first burials in pits or cist graves began to the west of the acropolis at about 1800-1700 BC. The acropolis was enclosed at least partially by the earliest circuit wall.

Of the cist graves and the Middle Helladic Emily Vermeule said: :"...there is nothing in the Middle Helladic world to prepare us for the furious splendor of the Shaft Graves."

Late Bronze Age

During the Bronze Age the pattern of settlement at Mycenae was a fortified hill surrounded by hamlets and estates, in contrast to the dense urbanity on the coast (cf. Argos). Since Mycenae was the capital of a state that ruled, or dominated, much of the eastern Mediterranean world, the rulers must have placed their stronghold in this less populated and more remote region for its defensive value. Since there are few documents on site with datable contents (such as an Egyptian scarab) and since no dendrochronology has yet been performed upon the remains here, the events are listed here according to Helladic period material culture.

Late Helladic I

Outside the partial circuit wall, Grave Circle B, named for its enclosing wall, contained ten cist graves in Middle Helladic style and several shaft graves, sunk more deeply, with interments resting in cists. Richer grave goods mark the burials as possibly regal. Mounds over the top contained broken drinking vessels and bones from a repast, testifying to a more than ordinary farewell. Stelae surmounted the mounds.

A walled enclosure, Grave Circle A, included six more shaft graves, with 9 female, 8 male, and two juvenile interments. Grave goods were wealthier than in Circle B. The presence of engraved and inlaid swords and daggers, with spear points and arrowheads, leave little doubt that warrior chieftains and their families were buried here. Some art objects obtained from the graves are the Silver Siege Rhyton, the Mask of Agamemnon, the Cup of Nestor, and weapons both votive and practical.

Late Helladic II

Alan Wace divided the nine tholos tombs of Mycenae into three groups of three each based on architecture. His earliest - the Cyclopean Tomb, Epano Phournos, and the Tomb of Aegisthus - are dated to IIA.

Burial in tholoi is seen as replacing burial in shaft graves. The care taken to preserve the shaft graves testifies that they were by then part of the royal heritage, the tombs of the ancestral heroes. Being more visible, the tholoi all had been plundered either in antiquity, or in later historic times.

Late Helladic III

At a conventional date of 1350 BC the fortifications on the acropolis, and other surrounding hills, were rebuilt in a style known as cyclopean because the blocks of stone used were so massive that they were thought in later ages to be the work of the one-eyed giants known as the cyclopes (singular: Cyclops). Within these walls, much of which can still be seen, successive monumental palaces were built. The final palace, remains of which are currently visible on the acropolis of Mycenae, dates to the start of LHIIIA:2. Earlier palaces must have existed, but they had been cleared away or built over.

The construction of palaces at that time with a similar architecture was general throughout southern Greece. They all featured a megaron, or throne room, with a raised central hearth under an opening in the roof, which was supported by four columns in a square around the hearth. A throne was placed against the center of a wall to the side of the hearth, allowing an unobstructed view of the ruler from the entrance. Frescos adorned the plaster walls and floor.

The room was accessed from a courtyard with a columned portico. A grand staircase led from a terrace below to the courtyard on the acropolis.

In the Temple built within the citadel, a scarab of Queen Tiye of Egypt, who was married to Amenhotep III, was placed in the Room of the Idols alongside at least one statue of either LHIIIA:2 or B:1 type. Amenhotep III's relations with ''m-w-k-i-n-u'', *Mukana, have corroboration from the inscription at Kom al-Hetan - but Amenhotep's reign is thought to align with late LHIIIA:1. It is likely that Amenhotep's herald presented the scarab to an earlier generation, which then found the resources to rebuild the citadel as Cyclopean and then, to move the scarab here.

Wace’s second group of tholoi are dated between IIA and IIIB: Kato Phournos, Panagia Tholos, and the Lion Tomb. The final group, Group III: the Treasury of Atreus, the Tomb of Clytemnestra and the Tomb of the Genii, are dated to IIIB by a sherd under the threshold of the Treasury of Atreus, the largest of the nine tombs. Like the Treasury of Minyas at Orchomenus the tomb had been looted of its contents and its nature as funerary monument had been forgotten. The structure bore the traditional name of "Treasury".

The pottery phases on which the relative dating scheme is based (EH, MH, LH, etc.) do not allow very precise dating, even augmented by the few existing C-14 dates due to the tolerance inherent in these. The sequence of further construction at Mycenae is approximately as follows. In the middle of LHIIIB, around 1250 or so, the Cyclopean wall was extended on the west slope to include grave circle A. The main entrance through the circuit wall was made grand by the best known feature of Mycenae, the Lion Gate, through which passed a stepped ramp leading past circle A and up to the palace. The Lion Gate was constructed in the form of a 'Relieving Triangle' in order to support the weight of the stones. An undecorated postern gate also was constructed through the north wall.

One of the few groups of excavated houses in the city outside the walls lies beyond Grave Circle B and belongs to the same period. The House of Shields, the House of the Oil Merchant, the House of the Sphinxes, and the West House. These may have been both residences and workshops.

Citadel facts and figures Circuit length: 1105M Preserved height: up to 12.5M Width: 7.5-17M Minimum stone required: 145,215 Cu.M or 14,420 average stones (10 tons) Time to move 1 Block using men: 2.125 days Time to move all Blocks using men: 110.52 years Time to move 1 Block using oxen: 0.125 day Time to move all Blocks using oxen: 9.9 years based on 8 hour work day The largest stones including the lintels and gate jambs weighed well over 20 tonnes some may have been close to 100 tonnes.

Somewhat later, toward the end of LHIIIB, another extension to the citadel was undertaken. The wall was extended again on the north east, with a sally port and also a secret passage through and under the wall, of corbeled construction, leading downward by some 99 steps to a cistern carved out of rock 15 m below the surface. It was fed by a tunnel from a spring on more distant higher ground.

Already in LHIIIA:1, Egypt knew *Mukana by name as a capital city on the level of Thebes and Knossos. During LHIIIB, Mycenae's political, military and economic influence likely extended as far as Crete, Pylos in the western Peloponnese, and to Athens and Thebes. Hellenic settlements already were being placed on the coast of Anatolia. A collision with the Hittite empire over their sometime dependency at a then strategic location, Troy, was to be expected. In folklore, the powerful Pelopid family ruled many Greek states, one branch of which was the Atreid dynasty at Mycenae.

Decline

By 1200 BC the power of Mycenae was declining; during the 12th century, Mycenaean dominance collapsed. The destruction of Mycenae is part of the general Bronze Age collapse. Within a short time around 1200 BC, all the palaces of southern Greece were burned, including that at Mycenae. This is traditionally attributed to a Dorian invasion of Greeks from the north, although some historians now doubt that such an invasion took place. Displaced populations escaped to former colonies of the Mycenaeans in Anatolia and elsewhere, where they came to speak the Ionic dialect. A further theory, mentioned by Egyptian hieroglyphs, is that the destruction of the palaces is related to the attacks of the mysterious Sea Peoples who destroyed the Hittite Empire and then attacked the 19th then the 20th dynasties of Egypt. Other theories have been that a drought caused the Mycenaean decline, but there is no climatological evidence for this. Amos Nur argues that earthquakes played a major role in the destruction of Mycenae and many other cities at the end of the Bronze Age. However, no conclusive evidence has been brought forward to confirm any theory of why the Mycenaean citadel and others around it fell at this time.

Whatever the cause, by the LH IIIC period (whose latest phase is also termed "Submycenaean"), Mycenae was no longer a major power. Pottery and decorative styles were changing rapidly. Craftmanship and art declined. Although the settlement was much reduced in size, the citadel remained occupied though it never regained its earlier importance. A temple dedicated to Hera was built on the summit in the Archaic period. A Mycenaean contingent fought at Thermopylae and Plataea during the Persian Wars. In 468 BC, however, troops from Argos captured Mycenae, expelled the inhabitants and slighted the fortifications.

Revival and end

Mycenae was briefly reoccupied in the Hellenistic period, when it could boast a theatre. It was subsequently abandoned, and by Roman times its ruins became a tourist attraction.

Religion

Much of the Mycenaean religion survived into classical Greece in their pantheon of Greek deities, but it is not known to what extent Greek religious belief is Mycenean, nor how much is a product of the Greek Dark Ages or later. From the history traced by Nilsson and Guthrie the Mycenean pantheon consisted of Minoan deities, but also of gods and goddesses who appear under different names with similar functions in East and West. Many of these names appear in the Linear B inscriptions, but the etymology is the only evidence of the cults.

There are several reasonable guesses that can be made, however. Mycenean religion was almost certainly polytheistic, and the Myceneans were actively syncretistic, adding foreign deities to their pantheon of deities with considerable ease. The Myceneans probably entered Greece with a pantheon of deities headed by some ruling sky-deity which linguists speculate might have been called *Dyeus in early Indo-European. In Greek, this deity would become Zeus (pronounced ''zdeus'' in ancient Greek). Among the Hindus, this sky-deity becomes "Dyaus Pita". In Latin he becomes "deus pater" or Jupiter; we still encounter this word in the etymologies of the words "deity" and "divine." It seems that Mycenea adopted from the east a priest-king system and the belief of a ruling deity in the hands of a a theocratic society. At the end of the second milemnium BC, when the Mycenean city-state collapsed, it seems that the Greek thought was gradually released from the idea that each man was a servant to the gods, and seeked a "moral purpose". This procedure started probably before the end of the Mycenean age , but the idea is almost absent or vague in the Homeric poems. Later Hesiod uses a lot of eastern material in his cosmology and in the genealogical trees of the gods, and he introduces the idea of the existence of something else behind the gods, which was more powerful than they.

At some point in their cultural history, the Myceneans adopted the Minoan goddesses and associated these goddesses with their sky-god. These goddesses, however, are Minoan in origin. In general, later Greek religion distinguishes between two types of deities: the Olympian, or sky, deities (including Zeus), which are now commonly known in some form or another; and, the chthonic deities, or deities of the earth, which are almost all female. The latter were believed by the Greeks to predate the former.

Walter Burkert warns: :"To what extent one can and must differentiate between Minoan and Mycenaean religion is a question which has not yet found a conclusive answer" and suggests that useful parallels will be found in the relations between Etruscan and Archaic Greek culture and religion, or between Roman and Hellenistic culture.

Mycenean religion certainly involved offerings and sacrifices to the deities, and some have speculated that their ceremonies involved human sacrifice based on textual evidence and bones found outside tombs. In the Homeric poems, there seems to be a lingering cultural memory of human sacrifice in King Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter, Iphigenia; several of the stories of Trojan heroes involve tragic human sacrifice. This, however, is all speculation.

Beyond this speculation we can go no further. Somewhere in the shades of the centuries between the fall of the Mycenaean civilization and the end of the Greek Dark Ages, the original Mycenean religion persisted and adapted until it finally emerged in the stories of human devotion, apostasy, and divine capriciousness that exists in the two great epic poems of Homer.

Mycenae in Classical Greek mythology and legends

Perseid dynasty

Classical Greek myths assert that Mycenae was founded by Perseus, grandson of king Acrisius of Argos, son of Acrisius' daughter, Danaë. Having killed his grandfather by accident, Perseus could not, or would not, inherit the throne of Argos. Instead he arranged an exchange of realms with his cousin, Megapenthes, and became king of Tiryns, Megapenthes taking Argos. From there he founded Mycenae and ruled the kingdoms jointly from Mycenae.

Perseus married Andromeda and had many sons but in the course of time went to war with Argos and was slain by Megapenthes. His son, Electryon, became the second of the dynasty but the succession was disputed by the Taphians under Pterelaos, another Perseid, who assaulted Mycenae and losing retreated with the cattle. The cattle were recovered by Amphitryon, a grandson of Perseus, but he killed his uncle by accident with a club in an unruly cattle incident and had to go into exile.

The throne went to Sthenelus, third in the dynasty, a son of Perseus. He set the stage for future greatness by marrying Nicippe, a daughter of king Pelops of Elis, the most powerful state of the region and the times. With her he had a son, Eurystheus the fourth and last of the Perseid dynasty. When a son of Heracles, Hyllus, killed Sthenelus, Eurystheus became noted for his enmity to Heracles and for his ruthless persecution of the Heracleidae, the descendants of Heracles.

This is the first we hear in legend of those noted sons, who became a symbol of the Dorians. Heracles had been a Perseid. After his death Eurystheus determined to annihilate these rivals for the throne of Mycenae, but they took refuge in Athens, and in the course of war Eurystheus and all his sons were killed. The Perseid dynasty came to an end. The people of Mycenae placed Eurystheus' maternal uncle, Atreus, a Pelopid, on the throne.

Atreid dynasty

The people of Mycenae had received advice from an oracle that they should choose a new king from among the Pelopids. The two contenders were Atreus and his brother, Thyestes. The latter was chosen at first. At this moment nature intervened. The sun appeared to reverse direction and set in the east. Atreus argued that because the sun had reversed its path, the election of Thyestes should be reversed. The argument was heeded, and Atreus became king. His first move was to pursue Thyestes and all his family - that is, his own kin - but Thyestes managed to escape from Mycenae.

In legend, Atreus had two sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus, the Atreids. Aegisthus, the son of Thyestes, killed Atreus and restored Thyestes to the throne. With the help of King Tyndareus of Sparta, the Atreids drove Thyestes again into exile. Tyndareus had two ill-starred daughters, Helen and Clytemnestra, whom Menelaus and Agamemnon married, respectively. Agamemnon inherited Mycenae and Menelaus became king of Sparta.

Soon, Helen eloped with Paris of Troy. Agamemnon conducted a 10-year war against Troy to get her back for his brother. Because of lack of wind, the warships could not sail to Troy. In order to please the gods so that they might make the winds start to blow, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia. The hunting goddess Artemis replaced her at the very last moment with a deer on the altar, and took Iphigenia to Tauris (See Iphigenia en Tauris by Euripides). The deities having been satisfied by such a sacrifice, the winds started blowing and the warfaring fleet departed.

Legend tells us that the long and arduous Trojan War, although nominally a Greek victory, brought anarchy, piracy, and ruin; already before the Greek fleet set sail for Troy, the conflict had divided the gods as well, and this contributed to curses and acts of vengeance following many of the Greek heroes. After the war, Agamemnon, returning, was greeted royally with a red carpet rolled out for him and then was slain in his bathtub by Clytemnestra, who hated him bitterly for having ordered the sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia (although the life of the latter had been saved). Clytemnestra was aided in her crime by Aegistheus, who reigned subsequently, but Orestes, son of Agamemnon, was smuggled out to Phocis. He returned as an adult to slay Clytemnestra and Aegistheus. He then fled to Athens to evade justice and a matricide, and became insane for a time. Meanwhile, the throne of Mycenae went to Aletes, son of Aegistheus, but not for long. Recovering, Orestes returned to Mycenae to kill him and take the throne.

Orestes then built a larger state in the Peloponnesus, but he died in Arcadia from a snake bite. His son, Tisamenus, the last of the Atreid dynasty, was killed by the Heracleidae on their return to the Peloponnesus. They claimed the right of the Perseids to inherit the various kingdoms of the Peloponnesus and cast lots for the dominion of them. Whatever the historical realities reflected in these stories, the Atreids are firmly set in the epoch near the end of the Heroic age, leading up to the arrival of the Dorians. There are no established stories of a royal house at Mycenae later than the Atreids, and this could reflect the fact that not much more than fifty or sixty years seem to have separated the fall of Troy VIIa (the likely inspiration of Homeric Troy) and the fall of Mycenae.

Atreids in Asia Minor

In fact, there was a total eclipse of the sun in the Aegean on March 5, 1223 BC, which Atreus might have twisted into a setting of the sun in the east. This date does not solve all the unknowns, however.

A late date is implied for the Trojan War, which would, in that case, have been against Troy VIIa after all. The Perseids would have been in power ca. 1380, the date of a statue base from Kom el-Heitan in Egypt recording the itinerary of an Egyptian embassy to the Aegean in the time of Amenophis III. ''M-w-k-i-n-u'' (phonetic "Mukanuh"?) was one of the cities visited, a rare early document of the name of Mycenae. It was one of the cities of the ''tj-n3-jj'' ("Tinay"?), Homeric Danaans, named, in myth, after Danaë, which suggests that the Perseids were in fact in some sort of dominion.

Also in the 14th century BC the Ahhiya began to be troublesome to numerous kings of the Hittite Empire. Ahhiyawa or Ahhiya, which occurs a few dozen times in Hittite tablets over the century, is probably Achaiwia, reconstructed Mycenaean Greek for Achaea. The Hittites did not use Danaja as did the Egyptians, even though the first Ahhiya reference in "Indictment of Madduwatta" precedes the correspondence between Amenhotep III and one of Madduwatta's subsequent successors in Arzawa, Tarhunta-Radu. The external LHIIIA:1-era sources do, however, agree in their omission of a great king or other unifying structure behind Tinay/Ahhiya.

For example, in the "Indictment of Madduwatta", Attarissiya, the "man of Ahhiya" (i.e. ruler), attacks Madduwatta and drives him from his land. He obtains refuge and military assistance from the Hittite Great King Tudhaliya. After the death of the latter and in the reign of his son, Arnuwanda, Madduwatta allies with Attarissiya and they, along with another ruler, raid Alasiya, i.e. Cyprus.

This is the only known occurrence of a man named Attarissiya. Attempts to link this name to ''Atreus'' have not found wide support, nor is there any evidence of a powerful Pelopid named Atreus of those times.

During LHIIIA:2, Ahhiya, now known as ''Ahhiyawa'', extended its influence over Miletus, settling on the coast of Anatolia, and competed with the Hittites for influence and control in western Anatolia. For instance Uhha-Ziti's Arzawa and through him Manapa-Tarhunta's Seha River Land. While establishing the credibility of the Mycenaean Greeks as a historical power, these documents create as many problems as they solve.

Similarly, a Hittite king wrote the so-called Tawagalawa letter to the Great King of Ahhiyawa, concerning the depredations of the Luwiyan adventurer Piyama-Radu. Neither of the names of the great kings are stated; the Hittite king could be either Muwatalli II or his brother Hattusili III, which at least dates the letter to LHIIIB by Mycenaean standards. But neither the Atreus nor the Agamemnon of legend have any brothers named *Etewoclewes (Eteocles); this name, rather, is associated with Thebes, which during the preceding LHIIIA period Amenhotep III had viewed as equal to Mycenae.

Elsewhere, Muwatalli II (reg. 1296–1272) makes a treaty with Alaksandu (possibly Alexander), king of Wilusa (Ilium); and another document has Wilusa swearing by Appaliuna (Apollo). But the Alaksandu of the treaty is too early to be king of a city assaulted by Agamemnon, and besides, Priam was king of that city.

Excavation

The first excavations at Mycenae were carried out by the Greek archaeologist Kyriakos Pittakis in 1841. He found and restored the Lion Gate. In 1874 Heinrich Schliemann arrived at the site and undertook a complete excavation. Schliemann believed in the historical truth of the Homeric stories and interpreted the site accordingly. He found the ancient shaft graves with their royal skeletons and spectacular grave goods. Upon discovering a human skull beneath a gold death mask in one of the tombs, he declared: "I have gazed upon the face of Agamemnon".

Since Schliemann's day more scientific excavations have taken place at Mycenae, mainly by Greek archaeologists but also by the British School at Athens. The acropolis was excavated in 1902, and the surrounding hills have been methodically investigated by subsequent excavations.

The Athens Archaeological Society is currently excavating the Mycenae Lower Town (as of 2011), with support from Dickinson College and the Institute for Aegean Prehistory.

See also

Agamemnon

Perseus

Ancient Greece

Mycenaean Greece

Aegean Civilization

National Archaeological Museum of Athens

References

Notes

Elizabeth B. French. ''Mycenae: Agamemnon's Capital''. Tempus, Stroud 2002. ISBN 07524 1951 X.

K.A. and Diana Wardle. ''Cities of Legend: The Mycenaean World''. Bristol Classical Press 1997, 2000. ISBN 1-85399-355-7

W.D. Taylour, E.B. French, and K.A. Wardle. ''Well Built Mycenae''. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 1983-2007.

A.J.B. Wace. ''Mycenae: an archaeological history and guide''. Princeton, 1949 (reprinted 1964).

John Chadwick. ''The Mycenaean World''. Cambridge University Press, 1976. ISBN 0-521-21077-1 hardcover or ISBN 0-521-29037-6 paperback

Emily Vermeule. ''Greece in the Bronze Age''. The University of Chicago Press, 1964. LC 64-23427

Martin P. Nilsson. ''The Mycenaean Origin of Greek Mythology'' (1932). Reissued by the University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-01951-2 Cloth, ISBN 0-520-02163-0 Paper

George E. Mylonas. ''Mycenae's Last Century of Greatness''. Sydney University Press, 1968. ISBN 424-05820-3

George E. Mylonas. ''Mycenae Rich in Gold''. Athens: Ekdotike Athenon, 1983.

Leonard R. Palmer. ''Mycenaeans and Minoans'', 1961 (2nd edition: 1965).

M. I. Finley. ''Early Greece, The Bronze and Archaic Ages''. W. W. Norton & Company, 1981. ISBN 0-393-01569-6 Hard, ISBN 0-393-30051-X Paper

Reid Bryson and Thomas J. Murray. "Climates of Hunger". University of Wiconsin Press, 1977. ISBN 0-299-07370-X

External links

British School at Athens Mycenae page

Excavation of Citadel House Area

Objects from Grave Circle A, including votive weaponry

Homepage of Current Dickinson College Excavations at Mycenae

Category:Ancient Greek cities Category:World Heritage Sites in Greece Category:Tourism in Greece Category:Bronze Age palaces in Greece Category:Former populated places in Greece Category:Locations in Greek mythology Category:Mycenaean palaces

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{| style="float:right; background:transparent;" |

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
name	Sébastien Loeb
birth date	February 26, 1974
nationality
years	1999 – present
teams	Citroën, Kronos Citroën
races	147
championships	7 (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
wins	66
podiums	102
stagewins	791
points	1251
first race	1999 Rally Catalunya
first win	2002 Rallye Deutschland
last win	2011 Rally Finland
last race	2011 Rally Finland }}

years	2005–2006
team(s)	Pescarolo Sport
best finish	2nd ()
class wins	0 }}

|} Sébastien Loeb (born 26 February 1974) is a French rally driver currently driving for the Citroën World Rally Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC). He has won the world championship a record seven times in a row, and also holds several other WRC records, including most wins and podium finishes.

Originally a gymnast, Loeb switched to rallying in 1995 and won the Junior World Rally Championship in 2001. Signed by the Citroën factory team for the 2002 season, he and co-driver Daniel Elena took their debut WRC win that same year at the Rallye Deutschland. After finishing runner-up to Petter Solberg by one point in 2003, Loeb took his first drivers' title in 2004. Continuing with Citroën, he went on to take a record seventh consecutive world title in 2010. Loeb is a tarmac expert, having won all WRC races on that since 2005 but two (Monte Carlo 2006 and Germany 2011).

Besides his success in rallying, Loeb is a three-time winner at the Race of Champions, after taking home the ''Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy'' and the title "Champion of Champions" in 2003, 2005 and 2008. In 2004, he won the Nations' Cup for France with Jean Alesi. In 2006, he finished second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2009, Loeb was made knight of the Légion d'honneur.

Career

Rallying

Early career

Loeb was born in Haguenau, Alsace, and grew up in Oberhoffen-sur-Moder. He competed as gymnast and became a four-time Alsatian champion, once champion of the French Grand East, and fifth in the French championship. He broke off school in 1992 but resumed taking classes in 1994, aiming at a professional formation in electrical engineering. On 1994, in parallel with his classes, he started working as an electrician at the Socalec company near Haguenau Airport, where he was the oldest apprentice and already noted for his daring/reckless driving style and his tendency not to be punctual. He could count, though, on the understanding of his boss, who was himself fascinated by speed and owned a Ferrari Testarossa 512 TR.

In 1995, at age 21, he quit his job and classes and definitely turned his attention to racing. In 1998, he started entering events in the French Citroën Saxo Trophy series, winning the title in 1999. Guy Fréquelin, Citroën Sport's team principal, would serve as Loeb's mentor as he entered the Junior World Rally Championship in 2001, becoming the series' first champion by winning five of the six events. During this year, he was also released for participation in the Rallye Sanremo in the Citroën Xsara WRC. In only his third world rally with a World Rally Car, he surprisingly hounded Peugeot tarmac specialist and eventual victor Gilles Panizzi to the finish.

2002–03

The 2002 season was Loeb's first as a WRC driver with the Citroën Total World Rally Team, although the team only participated in seven rounds in the build-up to their full entry the following year. Loeb started the season by provisionally winning the Monte Carlo Rally, after racing under appeal due to a two-minute time penalty incurred by an illegal tyre change during the second day. Citroën considered the penalty too severe but later withdrew the appeal, and Subaru's Tommi Mäkinen then took a record fourth consecutive Monte Carlo win. Loeb later took his debut victory at the Rallye Deutschland in Germany, edging out Peugeot's Richard Burns.

In 2003, his first full season in the championship, Loeb won three WRC events, Monte Carlo, Germany and Sanremo, before losing to Petter Solberg in the Wales Rally Great Britain, also losing the championship to him by just one point. Loeb's reputation grew as he defeated his more illustrious team mates – Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae – over the course of the season. At the end of the year, he earned the title "Champion of Champions" by beating Marcus Grönholm in the final of the Race of Champions.

2004

In the 2004 season, Loeb dominated the WRC scene in a similar way to the Michael Schumacher domination of Formula One the same year, by winning six events and taking six runner-up spots to securely give him the drivers' title, 36 points clear of second-placed Solberg. His six WRC victories tied the record for victories in one season with fellow Frenchman Didier Auriol, who won six events in 1992. He was also responsible for Citroën's second manufacturers' title in a row.

Originally known as a tarmac specialist, 2004 was the year Loeb proved himself capable of winning on other surfaces as well. He won the snow-based Swedish Rally, becoming the first non-Nordic to win the event. On gravel, he triumphed in the Cyprus Rally, Rally of Turkey and the Rally Australia. On tarmac, he continued his success in Monte Carlo and Germany.

2005

In 2005, with victory in the ninth round in Argentina, Loeb became the first to win six consecutive rallies, beating Timo Salonen's record of four from 1985. Having already won the season-opening Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo, he also became the first to win seven in a season, beating his (and Didier Auriol's) own record of six wins in a season. Loeb was in a position to clinch the title while leading the Wales Rally Great Britain, but after it was announced that the last two stages of the rally would be abandoned due to the death of Markko Märtin's co-driver Michael Park in an accident on stage 15, Loeb deliberately incurred a two-minute penalty to drop him to third place and avoid retaining his title in such circumstances. He went on to secure the title by finishing second to Peugeot's Marcus Grönholm at the next rally in Japan.

Loeb eventually extended his win record to ten and won the title with a 56-point margin, breaking a 25-year-old record; Walter Röhrl's margin over Hannu Mikkola in 1980 was 54. Loeb set several other records during the season as well. He won all twelve stages in the 2005 Tour de Corse in France, which marked the first time a driver had won every stage of a WRC rally. Loeb's twelve podium and thirteen points-scoring finishes in a row were also new records in the series.

In the Race of Champions, after being surprised by the young event rookie Heikki Kovalainen last year, he beat Tom Kristensen in the final to claim his second title.

2006

Citroën's parent company, PSA Peugeot Citroën, pulled both manufacturers out of the WRC at the end of 2005, but Citroën planned to return in 2007 with the C4 WRC, and developed the car during 2006. Loeb was closely involved with this as he was guaranteed the leading role in the team at the comeback. In the meantime, a 'gap year' beckoned in the privateer ranks, namely with Citroën-sponsored Kronos Racing entered as the ''Kronos Total Citroën World Rally Team''.

In order to score on the first round in Monte Carlo, Loeb was initially forced to activate the SupeRally rules for retiring competitors, having spun off the road on day one. Although he did manage to fight his way back to second place, it was the first time he had ever been beaten to the finish (namely by fellow double world champion Marcus Grönholm) on these roads in the Xsara WRC. This outcome was mirrored on the following month's Swedish Rally, with Grönholm again the man to whom Loeb was forced to give best, placing the duo in an early runaway 1–2 position in the points standings.

But the Frenchman's bridesmaid status was not to last, and racking up a triumph on the ensuing Rally Mexico – the first of five on the trot that season – propelled him into a championship lead he was never to lose. He tied Carlos Sainz's record number of 26 individual rally victories in August with a fifth consecutive victory in Germany. With his subsequent victory in Japan, the world record of 27 victories and counting eventually became his. His victory in Cyprus put him on the verge of a third consecutive World Rally Championship title.

Shortly after Loeb broke his right humerus in a mountain-biking accident near his home in Switzerland and missed the rallies in Turkey and Australia. In spite of this, Loeb had accumulated such a huge point lead before Turkey that Marcus Grönholm's failure to finish third or better in Australia handed Loeb the 2006 championship crown. He received the news at home via an Internet video link to the rally HQ. Due to the time difference, he made do with early morning coffee instead of the customary champagne, calling the whole experience "strange".

2007

For 2007, Sébastien Loeb returned as an official Citroën driver, with the new Citroën C4 WRC. He won the 75ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo, the first race for the new C4, following that up with a solid second place after Grönholm, in Sweden, to set up a two-point lead over the Finn after two of 16 rounds. At the first Rally Norway, Loeb went off and lost eight minutes during SS12 while chasing Grönholm and the leader, Mikko Hirvonen. On the next stage, he made another mistake and lost nine minutes. He eventually finished 14th in the rally and dropped to third in the championship standings. He won 8 of the 18 stages in this rally. Loeb won the next rally, the 21º Corona Rally México, 55.8 seconds clear of Grönholm.

He then followed this success up with his third and fourth season victories on the Portuguese and Argentinian rallies. Characteristically, he was once more to be found in the lead on the seventh round, the Rally d' Italia in Sardinia. On new stages on the final leg to those of the previous year, however, Loeb was once more to lament error and the surrender of probable victory, this time after crashing and breaking his suspension in a ditch. He left the lead in the hands of Grönholm, who won to propel himself seven points ahead of Loeb at the top of the championship standings. A second loss to the Finn in as many years on the Acropolis Rally then extended the deficit to nine points over the championship's summer break.

Loeb occupied his recess by, amongst other engagements, competing in the Shell Donegal International Rally on 15, 16 and , partially as preparation for the coming Rally Ireland world championship round that November. He scored a comprehensive victory, albeit only after being given a scare by the pace of tenacious private Subaru-mounted Mark Higgins. Punctures afflicted upon his rival eventually settled the contest.

Ambitions of finally scoring victory on Rally Finland proved once more unrealized, with Loeb relegated to third place behind the pacy natives Grönholm and Hirvonen. Rallye Deutschland, as was traditional, differed somewhat. Although, at the scene of his first victory and on a rally where he had never subsequently lost, Loeb was left unexpectedly to fend off the challenge not of the Finn, but of a privateer, his one-time team-mate and championship returnee François Duval, he came to eventually triumph, reducing some of his championship points deficit.

A very close battle on the gravel stages of Rally New Zealand ended with the closest second place in the whole of World Rally history – Loeb finished only 0.3 s behind his main rival. The next two rounds, however, allowed the French driver to regain some points, as he won both tarmac events – Rallye Espana, where his teammate Danni Sordo additionally took second place and two points from Grönholm, and Rally France.

Rally Japan was another dramatic event – Loeb got the chance to take the lead in Championship after Grönholm's early mistake, but he was unable to, as his co-driver mistake caused the C4 to go off road on one of the stages of second leg. Both drivers ended with no points after finally retiring from the event. In Ireland, during 1st Rally Ireland almost the same story happened – Marcus Grönholm overcooked a slippery right corner on one of the early stages, trying to keep a fast pace, and had to retire from the rally. Loeb made use of his rival's mistake and, by making no major mistakes, although having some suspension-related problems with keeping pace at the beginning, he added 10 points to his account, moving ahead of Finnish driver just one round before the season's end. In Wales he was not fighting for the win, focusing mostly on securing his advantage, finishing the event third – on 2007 Loeb became World Rally Champion for the fourth time in a row.

2008

Loeb started the 2008 season with a record fifth win in Monte Carlo. On the second rally of the year, 2008 Swedish Rally, he crashed out during day one. Although he re-joined the rally to collect manufacturers' points, the team later decided to retire him due to a damaged engine. After winning in Mexico and Argentina, Loeb had a crash with Conrad Rautenbach in Jordan, from which he could only recover to take tenth place in the rally. He went on to win two events, and then finish close third to the Ford factory team duo Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala at the Rally of Turkey.

Loeb later notably won the Rally Finland ahead of Hirvonen. This was the fourth time in the event's 58-year history that a non-Nordic driver won the rally, after Carlos Sainz in 1990, Didier Auriol in 1992 and Markko Märtin in 2003. This started a string of five victories for Loeb. In Germany, New Zealand and Spain, Citroën also took double wins as his team-mate Dani Sordo took three runner-up spots in a row.

Going into the penultimate round of the season, the 2008 Rally Japan, Loeb led Hirvonen by 14 points and needed a third place to secure the world drivers' title. Finishing behind Ford's Hirvonen and Latvala, Loeb broke Juha Kankkunen's, Tommi Mäkinen's and his own record of four titles and became the first five-time world champion in rallying.

After clinching the World Rally Championship, Loeb edged out Latvala to take his first Wales Rally GB win, a feat which also helped secure his team their first manufacturers' title since 2005, from 2006 and 2007 victors Ford. In December, Loeb won the individual 2008 Race of Champions, becoming the second driver after compatriot Auriol to win the event more than twice.

2009

Loeb started the year by winning Rally Ireland for the second time since 2007. He then won his first Rally Norway ever, after a fierce battle with Mikko Hirvonen, lasting throughout the very final stage. Being first on the road through all three days, Loeb kept his lead, in the end winning with 9.8 seconds over Hirvonen. Loeb continued his good form by winning over Hirvonen in Cyprus, marking his career 50th victory, and in Portugal. His victory in Argentina, the fifth in a row in this country, was also his fifth victory in a row since the start of the season.

At the Rally d'Italia Sardegna, Loeb had a puncture after going off the road and dropped from third to fourth. Although he passed Petter Solberg for the final podium spot, he still finished fourth due to a time penalty for a safety rule violation; co-driver Daniel Elena had unfastened his safety belts before the crew stopped the car for a tyre change. At the Acropolis Rally, Loeb crashed out from third place. On Rally Poland's return to the WRC, Loeb had another crash but he continued in the event under ''superally'' rules. After team orders issued for the Citroën Junior Team drivers and a late mistake by Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala, Loeb found himself seventh but had lost the championship lead to Hirvonen by one point.

By winning the Rally Catalunya, Loeb reduced the deficit to Hirvonen in the title race before the final event of the year; once again trailing by a single point. The Frenchman gained the championship by winning the final event of the year, the Rally GB. Victory was secured partly due to an incredible performance over SS8 and SS9, where in the course of only two stages Loeb extended his lead in the rally over Hirvonen from 2.4s to 25s.

2010

The 2010 WRC season started with the snow-based Swedish Rally, where Loeb finished second behind Ford's Mikko Hirvonen. He went on to take a clear championship lead by winning the following three gravel events: Rally México, Jordan Rally and Rally of Turkey. In New Zealand, Loeb finished third in a tight battle that saw the top five finish within 26 seconds of each other. In Portugal, Loeb narrowly lost the win to his countryman Sébastien Ogier of the Citroën Junior Team, who took his debut win in the World Rally Championship. In the following Rally Bulgaria, a new event in the series and the season's first tarmac rally, Loeb won while Citroën scored the WRC's first 1–2–3–4 in seventeen years.

At the 60th Rally Finland, Loeb beat Citroën privateer Petter Solberg to the final podium position, behind Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala and Ogier. He went on to win the Rallye Deutschland for the eighth time in a row, marking the first time a driver has won a WRC rally eight times. After a fifth place in Japan, Loeb secured a record-extending seventh consecutive World Rally Championship title by winning his home event, the Rallye de France. As the Rallye de France–Alsace had replaced the Tour de Corse as the French round of the WRC, Loeb ended up clinching the title on a final stage that was held in his home town of Haguenau, Alsace.

Racing

Le Mans/Sports Cars

As his WRC stature grew, Loeb began to participate in road racing events and tests. He first competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race in 2005, where he drove for the Pescarolo Sport team's No. 17 entry. Reportedly Loeb did much of his preparation for the race by running practice laps around the circuit in the Sony PlayStation 2 video game Gran Turismo 4 aboard a private jet. In the race the car was plagued by incidents, but Loeb proved to be able to drive fast for his first race on a closed track. Loeb finished second overall in the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Pescarolo-Judd, between the two Diesel-powered Audi R10.

Free time in his WRC schedule allows him to race in the French GT Championship (FFSA GT) where he drove a Ferrari 550 Prodrive and a Porsche 911 RSR as well as in the French Carrera Cup where he achieved top-10 finishes.

Formula One

Loeb has had a number of Formula One tests. He first tested for Renault F1 at Paul Ricard in December 2007, in a switch that saw Heikki Kovalainen test Loeb's WRC car. Red Bull, which became a major sponsor of the Citroën factory team during the 2008 season, rewarded Loeb for winning the WRC with a Formula One test in Red Bull Racing's 2008-spec Red Bull RB4. He first drove the car at Silverstone, and then took part in the first official Formula One winter test in Barcelona. Loeb was eighth quickest of 17 drivers.

Loeb continued to set his sights on a switch to Formula One in 2009. Following stories that fellow Frenchman Sébastien Bourdais was under threat at Toro Rosso, Loeb told French newspaper L'Equipe that he was interested in replacing Bourdais at the Red Bull-backed team. He intended to make his F1 debut at the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which took place in November, after the WRC season finished, with a view to making the switch full-time for . However, this plan was scuppered when he was not granted an FIA Super Licence, rendering him ineligible to race in F1 for the foreseeable future as he had not done enough circuit racing at lower levels. He had also been in contact with the US F1 Team about a possible drive for .

Loeb has also taken part in an official GP2 Series testing session after the 2009 season, where he drove for the David Price Racing team, finishing last of 25 drivers.

Loeb took part in the Race of Champions 2010, driving for Team France alongside 4-time Formula One World Champion Alain Prost.

Personal life

Loeb has a wife, Séverine, and a daughter Valentine. They reside near Lausanne, Switzerland. He was made knight of the Légion d'honneur on , 2009, by French president Nicolas Sarkozy. Loeb is a member of the "Champions for Peace" club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization.

Victories

:{|class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" !colspan="5"| World Rally Championship victories (66) |- !  #  ! Event ! Season ! Co-driver ! Car |- | 1 | 21. ADAC Rallye Deutschland | 2002 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 2 | 71ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo | 2003 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 3 | 22. ADAC Rallye Deutschland | 2003 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 4 | 45º Rallye Sanremo – Rallye d'Italia | 2003 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 5 | 72ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo | 2004 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 6 | 53rd Uddeholm Swedish Rally | 2004 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 7 | 32nd Cyprus Rally | 2004 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 8 | 5th Rally of Turkey | 2004 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 9 | 23. OMV ADAC Rallye Deutschland | 2004 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 10 | 17th Telstra Rally Australia | 2004 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 11 | 73ème Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo | 2005 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 12 | 35th Propecia Rally New Zealand | 2005 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 13 | 2º Supermag Rally Italia Sardinia | 2005 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 14 | 33rd Cyprus Rally | 2005 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 15 | 6th Rally of Turkey | 2005 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 16 | 52nd Acropolis Rally | 2005 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 17 | 25º Rally Argentina | 2005 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 18 | 24. OMV ADAC Rallye Deutschland | 2005 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 19 | 49ème Tour de Corse – Rallye de France | 2005 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 20 | 41º Rally RACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada | 2005 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 21 | 20º Corona Rally México | 2006 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 22 | 42º Rally RACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada | 2006 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 23 | 50ème Tour de Corse – Rallye de France | 2006 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 24 | 26º Rally Argentina | 2006 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 25 | 3º Supermag Rally Italia Sardinia | 2006 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 26 | 25. OMV ADAC Rallye Deutschland | 2006 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 27 | 3rd Rally Japan | 2006 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 28 | 34th Cyprus Rally | 2006 | Daniel Elena | Citroën Xsara WRC |- | 29 | 75ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo | 2007 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 30 | 21º Corona Rally México | 2007 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 31 | 41º Vodafone Rally de Portugal | 2007 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 32 | 27º Rally Argentina | 2007 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 33 | 26. ADAC Rallye Deutschland | 2007 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 34 | 43º Rally RACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada | 2007 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 35 | 51ème Tour de Corse – Rallye de France | 2007 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 36 | 1st Rally Ireland | 2007 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 37 | 76ème Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo | 2008 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 38 | 22º Corona Rally México | 2008 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 39 | 28º Rally Argentina | 2008 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 40 | 5º Supermag Rally Italia Sardinia | 2008 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 41 | 55th BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally | 2008 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 42 | 58th Neste Oil Rally Finland | 2008 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 43 | 27. ADAC Rallye Deutschland | 2008 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 44 | 38th Repco Rally New Zealand | 2008 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 45 | 44º Rally RACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada | 2008 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 46 | 52ème Tour de Corse – Rallye de France | 2008 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 47 | 64th Wales Rally of Great Britain | 2008 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 48 | 2nd Rally Ireland | 2009 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 49 | 3rd Rally Norway | 2009 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 50 | 37th Cyprus Rally | 2009 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 51 | 43º Vodafone Rally de Portugal | 2009 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 52 | 29º Rally Argentina | 2009 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 53 | 45º Rally RACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada | 2009 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 54 | 65th Wales Rally of Great Britain | 2009 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 55 | 23º Corona Rally México | 2010 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 56 | 28th Jordan Rally | 2010 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- |57 | 2010 Rally of Turkey | 2010 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- |58 | 2010 Rally Bulgaria | 2010 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 59 | 28. ADAC Rallye Deutschland | 2010 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 60 | 2010 Rallye de France | 2010 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 61 | 46º Rally RACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada | 2010 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 62 | 66th Wales Rally of Great Britain | 2010 | Daniel Elena | Citroën C4 WRC |- | 63 | 24° Corona Rally México | 2011 | Daniel Elena | Citroën DS3 WRC |- | 64 | 8° Rally d'Italia Sardegna | 2011 | Daniel Elena | Citroën DS3 WRC |- | 65 | 31º Rally Argentina | 2011 | Daniel Elena | Citroën DS3 WRC |- | 66 | 61st Rally Finland | 2011 | Daniel Elena | Citroën DS3 WRC |- |}

Loeb provisionally won the Monte Carlo event in 2002 but was later docked two minutes for an illegal tyre change and demoted to second place.

Loeb also provisionally won the 2009 Rally Australia, but was penalized one minute to second place as his car was fitted with a non-regulation part.

Loeb's win at the 2010 Rallye Deutschland was his eighth victory in a row there, marking a record for consecutive wins in a WRC event. He was the only driver to win the rally since its 2002 introduction to the WRC calendar, until 2011, when he was second and Sébastien Ogier won.

Complete WRC results

! Year

! Entrant

! Car

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! 13

! 14

! 15

! 16

! WDC

! Points

! Equipe de France FFSA

Citroën Saxo>Citroën Saxo Kit Car

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

! –

! 0

rowspan=2

! Sébastien Loeb

Citroën Saxo>Citroën Saxo Kit Car

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

–

0

! Equipe de France FFSA

! Toyota Corolla WRC

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

rowspan=3

Sébastien Loeb

Citroën Saxo>Citroën Saxo Kit Car

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

14th

6

Citroën Saxo>Citroën Saxo S1600

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

Citroën Total World Rally Team>Automobiles Citroën

! Citroën Xsara WRC

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

rowspan=2

Citroën Total World Rally Team>Automobiles Citroën

Citroën Xsara WRC

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

10th

18

! Piedrafita Sport

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

Citroën Total World Rally Team>Citroën Total

! Citroën Xsara WRC

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

Citroën Total World Rally Team>Citroën Total

! Citroën Xsara WRC

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

Citroën Total World Rally Team>Citroën Total

! Citroën Xsara WRC

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

! Kronos Total Citroën WRT

! Citroën Xsara WRC

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

Citroën Total World Rally Team>Citroën Total WRT

! Citroën C4 WRC

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

Citroën Total World Rally Team>Citroën Total WRT

! Citroën C4 WRC

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

Citroën Total World Rally Team>Citroën Total WRT

! Citroën C4 WRC

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

Citroën Total World Rally Team>Citroën Total WRT

! Citroën C4 WRC

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

Citroën Total World Rally Team>Citroën Total WRT

! Citroën DS3 WRC

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

* Season in progress

References

External links

Official web site

Profile at WRC.com

Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:People from Haguenau Category:French rally drivers Category:World Rally Championship people Category:World Rally Championship drivers Category:World Rally Champions Category:24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Category:Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Category:French expatriates in Switzerland

ar:سيباستيان لوب ast:Sébastien Loeb bg:Себастиан Льоб ca:Sébastien Loeb cs:Sébastien Loeb cy:Sébastien Loeb de:Sébastien Loeb et:Sébastien Loeb el:Σεμπαστιάν Λεμπ es:Sébastien Loeb fr:Sébastien Loeb ko:세바스티앵 뢰브 hr:Sébastien Loeb id:Sébastien Loeb it:Sébastien Loeb he:סבסטיאן לב jv:Sébastien Loeb lv:Sebastjēns Lēbs lt:Sébastien Loeb lmo:Sébastien Loeb hu:Sébastien Loeb nl:Sébastien Loeb ja:セバスチャン・ローブ no:Sébastien Loeb nn:Sébastien Loeb pl:Sébastien Loeb pt:Sébastien Loeb ru:Лёб, Себастьен sk:Sébastien Loeb sr:Себастјен Леб fi:Sébastien Loeb sv:Sébastien Loeb tr:Sébastien Loeb uk:Себастьян Льоб zh:塞巴斯蒂安·勒布