Ogier expands on his legend and is declared World Rally Champion

french This Saturday in Jeddah, Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) was crowned WRC World Rally Champion for the ninth time.This tied his compatriot Sebastien Loeb’s record.

Ogier had compatriot Vincent Landais as his co-driver, and although he went into the final test at a three-point disadvantage to Britain’s Elfyn Evans (Toyota) in the overall standings, he outperformed his rival in the three special stages overall. They allowed them to win the title again with a mere 4-point difference, 293-289.

Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) of Belgium was the best player in the final round of the World Championship.last year’s world champion, who will pass the baton to Ogier.

French pilot, 41 years old, He won his first World Cup in 2013 and went on to win five more times before repeating it in 2020 and 2021.This compares to Loeb, who dominated the field during the first decade of this century and won his last championship in 2012.

With the final three gravel sections remaining (two at 16.2km and one in between at 33.2km), he has a one point advantage over Evans in the general classification. Ogier withstood the pressure and achieved the feat by finishing second overall in the tournament.

Neuville won the first stage two seconds faster than Latvia’s Martins Seskus (Ford Puma), with Ogier in sixth and Evans in eighth.

Neuville set the fastest time in the second race, but Ogier finished third and Evans sixth, with the Frenchman closing in on the title with just a few minutes left in the qualifying interval.

Ogier made the most of his chance and finished second, 8.6 seconds behind compatriot Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai), with the Briton sixth, 1 minute 44.0 seconds behind the winner.

Evans, 36, was unable to shake the curse that haunted him and finished second overall for the fifth time, having previously done so in 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024, and his dreams of becoming the first British champion since Richard Burns in 2001 were dashed.

The Welshman was unable to capitalize on the 13-point advantage he gained over Ogier when he arrived in Japan for the penultimate round of the World Cup two weeks ago, retaking the lead for the third time this season in Central Europe.

In addition to titles, Ogier has also outperformed Evans in championship partial wins, adding six wins out of 14 in Monaco, Portugal, Italy, Paraguay, Chile and Japan, to two in arch-rivals Sweden and Kenya.

Ogier also achieved the feat of winning the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, his 10th win compared to Loeb’s eight.

In the overall World Cup standings, Finland’s Kalle Rovanpera (Toyota), who won in 2022 and 2023, was in third place with 256 points, Estonia’s Ott Tänak (Hyundai) was fourth with 216 points, and Neuville was fifth with 194 points.