Sébastien Ogier

In 2021, Ogier picked up an option on his contract, but announced plans to retire at the end of the season. He began the season as the six-time defending winner in Monte Carlo. He started off the season with a seventh victory in Monte Carlo, which was also his 50th career victory. Next month, however, he had a poor showing in the snowy stages of the 2021 Arctic Rally Finland, including a crash near the end of stage eight cost him almost 10 minutes. He claimed wins at Croatia, Italy, Kenya and Monza, and finished third at Portugal and Greece, earning his eighth title over teammate Elfyn Evans.

Ogier had announced his intention to retire from the sport at the end of 2021. Later he decided to only contest selected events of the 2022 season.

Amid speculations and statements about his retirement from the sport, Ogier signed for Toyota for the 2020 season, with an option for 2021. The six-time world champion claimed second place at his home town event of Monte Carlo, and claimed the podium four further times during a shortened seven event championship. Contender Elfyn Evans took the lead for most of the season, but skidded on ice at the final event at the Monza race track, with only two stages still to go. Evans waved Ogier's car to slow down at the same corner where his car had floundered off the road. Ogier later remarked that this action saved his car from a similar incident. Ogier and co-driver Ingrassia lifted their seventh world titles at this event. Former teammate Jari-Matti Latvala became Team Principal at Toyota in 2021.

2018 started very well, but turned out to be a gruelling year for Ogier. He won Monte Carlo to take the lead of the WRC drivers championship, but a lowly 10th position in Sweden opened the door for rival Thierry Neuville; who lead the championship for most of the year. Two more wins followed for Ogier, but a retirement in Portugal meant Neuville took the advantage.

The second half of the season saw mixed conditions, leaving the championship contenders struggling for points, particularly in Turkey. A commanding win for Ogier in Wales finally broke the deadlock, and he began to win back points towards Neuville. Three successive wins for Ott Tänak, and a continued resolve by the Estonian, meant the drivers championship depended on the final result of the season finale in Australia. Ogier remained in good humour, and gained the advantage as rivals went off in muddy conditions, ultimately winning the 2018 WRC Drivers Championship. Ogier and co-driver Ingrassia had successfully defended their championship titles for the sixth consecutive year.

On 28 September 2018, it was announced that Ogier and Ingrassia will rejoin the Citroën World Rally Team for the 2019 season. This will mark the return of the six-time world champions to the French manufacturer after seven years. Ogier claimed his sixth consecutive win at Monte Carlo, which also marked the 100th world rally success for Citroën. After an early retirement in Sweden, he won at Mexico and climbed to the podium at the next three rounds.

Rally Argentina marked the end of the series, as mechanical problems pushed him to retirement. He ended in 17th position and added the three bonus points of a Power Stage win. He won the Power Stage again on the following rally, in Portugal, while climbing the second final place. In addition to the disadvantage of sweeping a very sandy surface, the Frenchman lost time with a puncture before producing an impressive comeback to end 8.2s off the winner. This enabled him to confirm his leading position in the championship.

In July 2017 he tested a Red Bull Racing RB7 at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

On 12 December 2016, Ogier announced he would be driving the new Ford Fiesta WRC for M-Sport Ford during the 2017 season.

Ogier is married to German television presenter Andrea Kaiser. Their son Tim was born on 13 June 2016. In 2021 he donated $10,000 of his winnings from the 2021 Safari Rally to each of two charities, the Nakuru Children's Project which focuses on children's education in Kenya and the Ol Pejeta Conservancy which protects Kenyan wildlife.

In 2015, Sébastien Ogier stayed involved in WRC with the Volkswagen Motorsport team, codriven by Julien Ingrassia. Together, they won the first round of the season, the Rallye Monte-Carlo. The new Polo R WRC was immediately successful and so was the world champion crew despite the rivalry of Sébastien Loeb, who made a punctual comeback to rallying.

Sébastien Ogier cautiously considers that a title is harder to defend than to win. However his victory in the Rallye Monte-Carlo confirmed his leading position in WRC at the start of the 2014 season. Unlike in 2009 this legendary rally was part of the WRC, which made it a very special moment for the reigning World Champion. Despite a wrong tyre choice on day one, he impressed with his climb in the standings and entered Monaco as a winner. Icing on the cake, the start was given in his native town of Gap and the first part of the race was back in the Hautes-Alpes.

Ogier went ahead with another win in Sweden, where he came out as the winner in the very last stage, when Andreas Mikkelsen made a late mistake. Three out of three: it was a hat-trick for the Frenchman who also won Rally Mexico. This was his fifth consecutive win since 2014 Rally Catalunya and the third in a row in Mexico.

He contested the Monaco round of the Porsche Supercup, the series that is traditionally held before the Formula 1 Grand Prix. After a 14th place in qualifying, he ended 13th out of 26 drivers in the race.

Achieving 55 victories in the World Rally Championship and 8 titles (6 consecutive, 2013–2018), he is the 2nd most successful WRC driver, after former Citroën WRC teammate Sébastien Loeb (9 titles). Furthermore, he is one of two drivers (together with Juha Kankkunen) to have won the World Championship with 3 different manufacturers.

Ogier went on to claim victory on the Acropolis Rally, but his relationship with Sébastien Loeb deteriorated. Following a classic WRC strategy, the Frenchman slowed down on the Saturday evening to force his teammate to open the road the day after. To do so, he based himself on Loeb's times sent by his team, while a technical problem prevented Loeb from receiving the same information. The rally ended in a controversial atmosphere as Loeb had difficulty accepting to sweep the road on these gravel stages. Loeb bounced back in Finland, while Ogier ended in third position after a puncture during the last day. The tension between the two Citroën drivers knew their peak in Germany, where Sébastien Loeb had never been beaten. Before the start of the race, the reigning World Champion announced the extension of his contract with Citroën until the end of 2013. In that media context, the brand imposed team orders at the end of the first leg, while Loeb and Ogier were separated by only 7 seconds, with a big margin over their rivals. It was a beautiful battle and Sébastien Ogier didn't accept to be sacrificed so early and in such a disrespectful way. This is what he publicly said, giving rise to a huge controversy. The win eventually went to him, as Loeb punctured a tyre.

The 2013 season went ahead with Rally Sweden, where Ogier became the second non-Nordic winner since its creation in 1950, after Loeb's victory in 2004. His win in Sweden was also the maiden one for the Polo R WRC. He added the 3 bonus points of a Power Stage win and took the lead of the championship. And this was only the beginning. Ogier then took the victory in Mexico, winning 16 stages out of 23 and another double rally – Power Stage success. Same again in Portugal where he finished with more than 3 minutes of margin over Mikko Hirvonen, second.

Sébastien Ogier eventually won the 2013 championship in the first stage of Rally France (which happened to be the bonus-points-rewarding Power Stage) because second-placed Thierry Neuville couldn't catch Ogier anymore even with rally wins. The Frenchman ended the season with some more victories in France, Spain and, for the first time in his career, Wales.

He took part in a round of the ADAC GT Masters, on the Lausitzring circuit. He drove an Audi R8 LMS Ultra of the Prosperia C. Abt Racing team, together with Markus Winkelhock. Together, they took the 13th place in Race 1 and the 8th in Race 2.

Ogier took part in a second Porsche Supercup race, this time at the Red Bull Ring. Just like in 2013 at Monaco, he joins the Deutsche Post Project 1 team to drive a Porsche 911 GT3.

Ogier's 2012 season started with Rallye Monte-Carlo, where he set some good times although his Škoda Fabia S2000 was less competitive than the WRC that were battling for the win. But in the 10th stage, he went off the road in a sixth-gear sector. Ogier was unhurt, his codriver was slightly injured. Before the crash, Ogier was 6th in the overall rally standings.

In parallel to his 2012 season with the Škoda Fabia S2000, Sébastien Ogier followed an intense testing programme developing the Volkswagen Polo R WRC and preparing its debut in the championship.

Launched at Monaco at the end of 2012, the car was ready for the first round of the season, the 2013 Rallye Monte Carlo. Despite the youth of the car and some treacherous weather conditions, Sébastien Ogier finished in second position. It sounded like an ideal start, a proper relief that confirmed the promising level of the Polo.

On the first rally of the championship, Monte-Carlo, Ogier brought M-Sport Ford back to victory for the first time since the 2012 Wales Rally GB, taking the 39th victory of his personal career and the fifth one on this rally (including one not counting for WRC) with three different manufacturers.

Ogier continued his progression in 2011. Given his performances in 2010, he was given a drive with Citroën's factory team for the full 2011 season, replacing Dani Sordo. As he was promised to be treated equally with Loeb, the fans awaited a great battle for the title.

On 23 November 2011, Volkswagen subsequently announced a three-year contract with Sébastien Ogier and his codriver Julien Ingrassia. They became the official crew of the team to spearhead Volkswagen's WRC assault, planned for 2013. In 2012, they contested the championship in a Škoda Fabia S2000 whilst developing the new Polo R WRC for a full-time WRC season in 2013.

In January 2010, Ogier took part again in the Rallye Monte-Carlo with a Peugeot 207 S2000. After losing two minutes going off-road at the start of the race (on snow put by some spectators), he then scored a lot of stage wins and came back 45 seconds off the leader Mikko Hirvonen, but eventually retired on the last day with an alternator problem.

As Monte-Carlo was still part of the IRC calendar, Ogier's 2010 season really started in Sweden with the first round of the WRC year. The Frenchman continued in the Citroën Junior Team with the 2007 Formula One world champion Kimi Räikkönen as his new teammate. He took fifth place in Sweden after a solid performance and clinched his second podium in Mexico after duelling against Petter Solberg until the last minute. In Jordan he took an excellent start and was lying second in the standings after the first two legs, however team orders forced him to take several minutes of penalty at a time control. He still ended in sixth position. In Turkey, Sébastien led during eleven stages, before losing three minutes with a puncture in SS15, eventually finishing fourth. At the Rally New Zealand, he came even closer to his maiden win as he was leading before the final stage, but spun three corners before the finish and lost the win to Latvala by 2.4 seconds (third smallest gap in the history).

In January 2009, Ogier made a one-off appearance in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, contesting the Monte Carlo Rally. He won the prestigious event for his first rally in a Kronos Peugeot 207 S2000.

It was only a one-off participation in IRC: for the 2009 season, Ogier was signed in WRC to capitalize on his Junior title. At the start of the season, he was supposed to take part in the first six rounds of the world championship with a C4 WRC of Citroën's satellite team, and that the remaining rallies of the season would depend on his results. Despite a few mistakes, his performances pushed the squad to confirm him for the rest of the season.

In the 2008 season, Ogier moved to compete a full Junior World Rally Championship program, driving a Super 1600-class Citroën C2 for the Equipe de France FFSA team.

Ogier debuted in the World Rally Championship at the 2008 Rally Mexico, winning first in the JWRC class, and becoming the first JWRC driver to take a WRC point thanks to his eighth place overall finish. He won again in Jordan: after a four-minute loss due to mechanical failure, he stormed back, eventually taking the victory when the leader went off the road.

In 2007, Ogier won the Peugeot 206 Cup with four victories (Diois, Langres, Causses, Touquet) and two second places (Alsace-Vosges, Limousin). He also won the Rallye Hivernal des Hautes-Alpes. In April 2007, he took part in his first regional rally (Rallye du Quercy) placing third overall in a Peugeot 206 XS.

Ogier's rally career began in 2005 when he won the French Federation's Rallye Jeunes and was rewarded with a place in the Peugeot 206 Cup for the following season. Teamed with co-driver Julien Ingrassia, he claimed a podium at Terre des Cardabelles and sixth place in the championship along with the Best Rookie award.

In the Rally Sweden, Ogier took 11th place with four minutes of margin on Per-Gunnar Andersson, the official winner in S2000. Sébastien Ogier took his first points of the season and the very first ones for Volkswagen Motorsport with an eighth place at the Rally Mexico.

In Sweden and in Mexico, he had to compose with a superior status compared to the other S2000 drivers and therefore had to sweep the roads for them. This changed at the Rally Portugal and the situation became more equitable. He then scored a series of points scorings and regularly battled against WRC drivers. His best result came in Sardinia, where he took the fifth place – the best result of a S2000 car.

Ogier managed to come back to victory in Italy. Hayden Paddon produced his best performance to date and led the rally for a long time, but Ogier eventually took the win in the last leg and added again the Power Stage victory to his tally. Another rally and Power Stage double win came in Poland, while in Finland he had to settle for the second place overall. He took another Power Stage success though (the 7th successive) to leave Finland with an 89-point lead in the championship. He led VW to a 1–2–3 finish on Rally Germany, and went on to take the title on the next round with a win in Rally Australia. After taking the lead, Ogier and Ingrassia won all the remaining stages to take their 31st WRC win and their 3rd title. At the same moment, Volkswagen secured the Manufacturer title.

Sébastien Ogier (born 17 December 1983) is a French rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC), who is teamed with the co-driver Julien Ingrassia. He has won the World Rally Drivers' Championship 8 times, in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, & 2021.

After a test in August, he competed in the DTM round at the Red Bull Ring in a Mercedes-AMG C63, finishing 12th in Race 1 and 17th in Race 2.

Rally France was not so lucky as Ogier suffered a gearbox failure at the end of day one. Despite a ten-minute penalty which relegated him to 55th position, he managed to end in 12th and won three more stages including the Power Stage. Sébastien Ogier then led Rally Spain for the last two legs but made a mistake in the very last stage. He was forced to retire after hitting a guardrail, a crash in which he and his codriver were unhurt. The season ended with a soaked Wales Rally GB where the Frenchmen won again. They dedicated their victory to the victims of Paris's attacks occurred on 13 November, during the rally weekend.

In Germany, Sébastien Ogier already had an opportunity to secure the title. However he broke his front-left suspension missing a braking point during the first leg. Back on the road the following day, he climbed from 47th to 17th in the overall standings and took another Power Stage win. With Thierry Neuville second and Jari-Matti Latvala seventh, Sébastien Ogier came closer to the title. In Australia he had real chances to become champion. However, despite a thrilling race, 19 stage wins out of 22, he lost the title in the last stage: as Hirvonen punctured a tyre, Neuville took second place and Ogier therefore missed the title for one point.

The DS3 WRC didn't make the expected debut in Sweden, however Ogier (4th) beat Loeb (6th), and also became the first driver to win a Power Stage. Their battle turned out to a duel in Mexico where Ogier started the last day as leader before going off the road. He went on to win the next two rallies in Portugal and Jordan: with two-tenth on Jari-Matti Latvala, he beat the record of the smallest winning gap. 4th in Sardinia, Ogier came close to another victory in Argentina: while he started the last leg with a 43.7s advantage on Hirvonen, he rolled; this led him to finish with no steering wheel and cost him the win in the last stage. He ended in third position behind Sébastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen.