Top moments of 2012, #1: Sébastien Loeb's 9th consecutive championship

I remember this time last year sitting down to write about French rally ace Sébastien Loeb and his amazing 8 consecutive World Rally championships thinking it was entirely possible, even probable, that I'd have to write about his 9th title in a year's time. And here we are.

One of Motorsport.com's top moments of 2012 has to be the Citroën driver's record-stretching, almost insulting, 9th success on the world stage. He and longtime co-driver Daniel Elena have done what no other sporting figure or athlete has done on such a level in any sport. Total and utter domination. Loeb has so little to prove in the WRC now, that he's finally taken a semi-retirement and is moving toward GT and prototype racing, plus plans are in the works to race for Citroen in the 2014 World Touring Car Championship (don't bet against him succeeding in this either).

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena, Citroën DS3 WRC, Citroën Total World Rally Team

Photo by: xpb.cc

There are those who have said that he has never really faced the toughest possible competition, with an arguably less than stellar factory involvement from the world's manufacturers in recent years, making Loeb and his top class Citroën, perennial favorites.

Of course the question often arises: How would Loeb fare against the likes of Colin McRae, Ari Vatanen or Juha Kankkunen, just to snatch a few legendary rallying names from thin air. We will never know, of course, but you have to be confident that he would hold his own. He certainly has them completely beat by the numbers - the name Sébastien Loeb will likely stay at the top of the books for a while to come.

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