Rally
The nine-times champ picks his personal highlights from a remarkable WRC career.
On the eve of his final World Rally Championship appearance in, of all places, his home round in France, the sport’s most successful driver had a long think about which of his 168 events will stick most in his memory…
Sanremo 2001
“Having met my targets in the French Championship and in the J-WRC, Guy Fréquelin handed me a drive in a Xsara WRC for the first time. To be honest, I was hoping for a good result as I had more or less matched Bug’s (Philippe Bugalski’s) times in testing. After the first stage, I was four seconds off the lead pace, despite not having really pushed. So despite my confidence, that came as quite a surprise! We had a phenomenal end to the rally, finishing just behind Panizzi. Before the rally, I had been sending faxes to the manufacturers just to remind them that I was around. After Sanremo, everybody called me up to try and get me to sign for a full season. Although it was only to compete for a half-season in 2002, I wanted to stay with Citroën. I think I made the right decision!”
Monte Carlo 2003
“This is probably the whole team’s fondest memory. For the start of our first full season in WRC, we dominated the podium at the most famous rally in the world! At the time, Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae were the benchmarks. Having two World Champions as team-mates was a little bit intimidating. There was always a good atmosphere between us, even when I started to get the better of them in terms of results. They made a big difference to me, and to Citroën.”
Tour de Corse 2004
“I have always competed in this sport to be the best and become World Champion. But before I made it, I sometimes wondered if I was capable of doing it. That day, we achieved our goal in only our second full season. The first title was very special, because we secured it in France. Everyone was there: my family, my friends… I was pleased that I was able to win it for my father. He didn’t say much when we were together, but some journalists told me that he had spoken to them about what it meant to him. I was very proud of what I had just achieved.”
New Zealand 2007
“I don’t like talking about losing, but finishing as runner-up here was really special. This rally was one of my finest battles with Marcus Gronhölm. We had such a fantastic time driving on these magnificent gravel roads. But there was also a lot of tension. I was leading going into the final leg, but was never more than three seconds ahead. On Whaanga Coast, the penultimate stage of the rally, Marcus grabbed the lead by 7/10ths. It all came down to the super special stage. I won it but lost out overall by just 3/10ths…”
Tomorrow Seb recollects Argentina and Japan in 2008 and Norway and Greece 2009…
