Biography
Sébastien Ogier
Born on December, 17th 1983 in Gap (France)
61 WRC wins & 104 podiums
2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020 & 2021 World Rally Champion
2008 Junior World Champion
With his dad being a Senna fan and his uncle an autocross driver, Sébastien Ogier fell in love with motorsports from his early childhood. After trying out karting for a while, he started entering competitions, winning the FFSA’s Rallye Jeunes - a talent spotting event organized by the French Federation – in 2005. This win secured him a driving seat in the Peugeot 206 Cup, where he began his collaboration with his co-driver, Julien Ingrassia. Best rookie of the year, he scored his first podium finish, then went on to win his first races over the next season, making a name for himself in the championship.
Sébastien Ogier made his debut in the world championship in 2008, a mere two years after his first rally. He started out as category winner in a Citroën C2 S1600 and even obtained a point in the overall standings. With two further victories, he clinched the Junior World Champion title at his first attempt. Thanks to this title he was offered a WRC wheel for the last rally of the 2008 season, in Wales. He accomplished quite a feat by winning the first stage and leading the race for a while.
This impressive performance had all eyes turned towards him when he started his WRC career in 2009 within the Citroën Junior Team. This debut came after another win at the Rally Monte-Carlo in between seasons (at that time the race was part of the IRC schedule). The first half of the year was quite hard for the rookie, until he started an upward spiral with a second place finish at the Acropolis – his first podium in the world championship.
His maiden victory came in the next season in Portugal. From then on, Sébastien Ogier’s performances just got better and better and he joined the official Citroën team for the gravel rallies of the second half of the year. As a team-mate of Sébastien Loeb, he won in Japan in a race he was running for the first time. He became a permanent member of the team in 2011, scored five successes over the course of the season and claimed 3rd place overall. After the curtain had fallen on the championship, Ogier won the Race of Champions at his first attempt.
At the end of 2011, Sébastien Ogier set himself a new challenge: he joined Volkswagen Motorsport to collaborate with the German brand in developing the new Polo R WRC, whose debut was announced for 2013. In the meantime, the French driver switched between testing sessions and an almost full participation in the 2012 season in a Skoda Fabia S2000.
The Polo R WRC made its debut in the Monte-Carlo Rally of 2013. First stage, first scratch for Ogier, who mounted the second step of the podium. His maiden victory behind the wheel of his new car came in the very next rally, in Sweden, which is all the more impressive as northern drivers historically dominate the race. Ogier was only the second non-Scandinavian driver to win it! This set the tone for his season, as success followed success and the title beckoned. The grand finale came on Rally France before Ogier and Ingrassia had even started the first stage which doubled as the Power Stage.
And so Sébastien Ogier joined the very select club of world champions – the third French driver to have done so. At this point he set himself what was perhaps an even more daunting goal: defending his position as leader, and it was indeed a hard-fought season’s victory which was assured on Rally Catalonia 2014 after he beat off the challenge of his increasingly tough rivals. With 8 wins out of the 13 rallies contested, he became the eighth driver to secure more than one title.
These statistics speak for themselves, but they were added to in 2015, when Sebastien Ogier raced his Polo R WRC to victory on eight occasions between Monaco and Wales, taking the title in Australia with three rounds to spare.
After only six complete WRC seasons, he became triple world champion, the third driver in history to win as many titles consecutively. Having achieved 32 victories at the end of 2015, he continued to add to his record in 2016 and won again on all surfaces. In Spain he secured his fourth title, equaling Juka Kankkunen and Tommi Mäkinen. Now with a tally of 38 wins, he started a new adventure with M-Sport driving a Ford Fiesta WRC in 2017.
For his first rally with his new car, Sébastien Ogier immediately clinched a win on the iconic Rally Monte-Carlo. He set another success during the 2017 season, this time in Portugal where he equalled Markku Alén's record of five wins and reached the 40 WRC wins mark. Producing a very consistent season, he achieved the feat of taking the title with a second different manufacturer and within a private team. He managed to take the same success the following year, as he started the championship with his sixth win in Monte-Carlo, the fifth in a row, which was a new record. Also victorious in Mexico, ten years after making his world championship debut and taking his first Junior win on this rally, and in Corsica and Wales, he battled up until the very end of the championship for a historically contested title against Ott Tänak and Thierry Neuville, eventually being crowned on the final day of action of the season.
In 2019, Sébastien Ogier returned to Citroën, as he decided to take up a new challenge with the C3 WRC. He continued his victorious series in Monte-Carlo equaling the record of wins on the legendary event. He won again in Mexico and Turkey, but had to settle with third in the championship as Ott Tänak clinched a maiden title.
Since 2020, he has been defending the colours of Toyota. Although shortened by the health crisis, their first common season was synonymous with new successes with two wins and a title acquired at the end of the final event, in Monza. Together, they began the 2021 championship with another historic moment, that of a record victory at Rallye Monte-Carlo, the eighth one there in Sébastien Ogier's whole career. After four more wins, including a first one in Croatia and Kenya, he clinched a superb eighth title as his last full season in the WRC and his partnership with Julien Ingrassia concluded.
In 2014, Sébastien teamed up as an Ambassador with Make-A-Wish® France, to help granting the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.
2024
WRC
Toyota GAZOO Racing driver
Wins: Croatia Rally, Rally Portugal, Rally Finland
Podiums: Rallye Monte-Carlo, Rally Italia Sardegna, Rally Latvia
2023
WRC
Toyota GAZOO Racing driver
Wins: Rallye Monte-Carlo, Rally Mexico, Safari Rally Kenya
Podium: Rally Japan
2022
WRC
Toyota GAZOO Racing
Winner at Rally Spain
2nd at Rallye Monte-Carlo and Rally New Zealand
WEC
Richard Mille Racing Team
1000 Miles of Sebring: 12th LMP2 / 15th overall
6 Hours of Spa: 8th LMP2 / 14th overall
24 Hours of Le Mans: 9th LMP2 / 13th overall
2021
WRC
Toyota GAZOO Racing driver
WORLD RALLY CHAMPION
Podiums:
Wins: Rallye Monte-Carlo, Croatia Rally, Rally Italia Sardegna, Safari Rally Kenya, Rally Monza
3rd at Rally Portugal and Acropolis Rally
2020
WRC
Toyota GAZOO Racing driver
WORLD RALLY CHAMPION
Podiums:
Wins: Mexico, Monza
2nd at Rallye Monte-Carlo
3rd at Rally Estonia, Italy
2019
WRC
Citroën Racing driver
3rd in the championship
Podiums:
Wins: Monte-Carlo, Mexico, Turkey
2nd at Tour de Corse, Rally Chile
3rd at Rally Argentina, Portugal, Wales Rally GB
2018
WRC
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team driver
WORLD RALLY CHAMPION
Podiums:
Wins: Monte-Carlo, Mexico, France, Wales Rally GB
2nd at Rally Italy, Spain
2017
WRC
M-Sport World Rally Team driver
WORLD RALLY CHAMPION
Podiums:
Wins: Monte-Carlo, Portugal
2nd at Rally Mexico, Tour de Corse, Rally Spain
3rd at Rally Sweden, Rally Poland, Rally Germany, Wales Rally GB
2016
WRC
Volkswagen Motorsport official driver
WORLD RALLY CHAMPION
Podiums:
Wins: Monte-Carlo, Sweden, Germany, France, Spain, Wales Rally GB
2nd at Rally Mexico, Rally Argentina, Rally Australia
3rd at Rally Portugal, Rally Italy
2015
WRC
Volkswagen Motorsport official driver
WORLD RALLY CHAMPION
Podiums:
Wins: Monte-Carlo, Sweden, Mexico, Italia, Poland, Germany, Australia, Great-Britain
2nd at Rally Portugal, Rally Finland
2014
WRC
Volkswagen Motorsport official driver
WORLD RALLY CHAMPION
Podiums:
Wins: Monte-Carlo, Mexico, Portugal, Italia, Poland, Australia, Spain, Great-Britain
2nd at Rally Argentina, Rally Finland
2013
WRC
Volkswagen Motorsport official driver
WORLD RALLY CHAMPION
Podiums:
Wins: Sweden, Mexico, Portugal, Italia, Finland, Australia, France-Alsace, Spain, Great-Britain
2nd at Rally Monte-Carlo, Rally Argentina
New record on Ouninpohja: 15'08.9
2012
WRC
S2000 leader on 10 out of the 12 rallies run (Skoda Fabia S2000)
7 top 10 finishes in the overall standings
Best result: 5th on Rally Italy
Race of Champions
Nations’ Cup finals partnered with Romain Grosjean, quarter finals of the individual race
2011
WRC
3rd in the World Rally Championship (Citroën DS3 WRC)
Podiums:
Wins: Portugal, Jordan, Greece, Germany, France
3rd at Rally Argentina, Rally Finland
Record of the smallest winning gap: 0.2s margin over Jari-Matti Latvala at Jordan Rally
Winner of the Rallye National Vosgien (Citroën DS3 WRC)
Race of Champions
Winner of the individual Race of Champions at his first attempt
2010
WRC
4th in the World Rally Championship (Citroën C4 WRC)
Podiums:
Wins: Portugal, Japan
2nd at Rally New-Zealand, Rally Finland
3rd at Rally Mexico, Rally Germany
Winner of the Rally della Lanterna (Citroën C4 WRC)
2009
WRC
8th in the World Rally Championship (Citroën C4 WRC)
Podiums:
2nd at Rally Greece
Winner of the Rally Monte-Carlo (Peugeot 207 S2000)
Member of the Equipe de France FFSA Rallye
2008
JWRC
JWRC World Champion (Citroën C2 Super 1600)
Podiums:
Wins: Mexico, Jordan, Germany
2nd at Rally France
Member of the Equipe de France FFSA Rallye
2007
Winner of the Peugeot 206 Cup
4 wins: Rallye du Touquet, Rallye Terre des Causses, Rallye Terre de Langres and Rallye Terre du Diois
2 podiums: 2nd at Rallye du Limousin and Rallye Alsace-Vosges
1st at Rallye Neige Hautes-Alpes (206 XS mini-Group A)
3rd at Rallye du Quercy (Peugeot 206 XS)
Espoir Echappement Award
2006
6th in the Volant Peugeot 206, best rookie
1 podium at Rallye Terre des Cardabelles
2005
Winner of the Rallye Jeunes FFSA selection