Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier secured a record-equalling ninth world rally title in Saudi Arabia on Saturday to equal the tally of fellow Frenchman Sebastien Loeb and become the sport’s oldest champion at 41.
Loeb won his nine titles successively between 2004 and 2012 with Citroen.
Ogier won six titles consecutively from 2013-18 and added two more in 2020 and 2021. He has found success with three different manufacturers — Volkswagen, Ford and Toyota.
He had announced his intention to retire from full-time rallying at the end of 2021 but has continued part-time and won his latest title despite being absent from three of the 14 rounds, winning six.
The Frenchman will be 42 on December 17 and is now the oldest driver to win the world championship. The previous oldest was Finland’s Hannu Mikkola at 41 years and 183 days in 1983.
First title for co-driver Landais
“What a season, that’s for sure,” Ogier said after finishing third in Jeddah with Evans sixth.
“What a fight with Elfyn and (co-driver) Scott (Martin). They have been super strong pushing us to the limit up to the very last stage of the year.”
The title was a first for Ogier’s co-driver Vincent Landais, who teamed up with him in 2022.
Evans, who had hoped to become the first British champion since Richard Burns in 2001 and started the rally three points clear, took five bonus points from the final Power stage but Ogier was second in that to limit the damage.
“It was a tough event obviously,” said the Welshman, championship runner-up for a fifth time in his career.
“I think we did what we could in reason. A puncture on Saturday morning didn’t help but that’s the name of the game, everybody’s had their fair share of issues.”
The rally was won by Hyundai’s outgoing champion Thierry Neuville, with the Belgian finishing 54.7 seconds clear of French teammate Adrien Fourmaux.
Toyota’s double world champion Kalle Rovanpera, who was also mathematically still in title contention at the start of the event, finished seventh.
The Finn is now leaving rallying to start a new career in single-seater circuit racing, with his eyes on a possible future in endurance or even Formula One.
Saudi Arabia was making its debut on the world championship calendar as the first round staged in the Middle East since Jordan in 2011.
Ogier equals Loeb’s record with ninth world championship
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Ogier equals Loeb’s record with ninth world championship
- Ogier wins ninth world rally title, oldest champion at 41
- Frenchman secured title despite part-time campaign
Rublev marches on, Bublik and Draper fall at Dubai Tennis Championships
- No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev, the 2022 champion, dispatches Ugo Humbert in epic three setter 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3
- Tallon Griekspoor upsets No. 2 seed Alexander Bublik in straight sets to set-up quarterfinal clash with No. 6 seed Jakub Mensik
DUBAI: Andrey Rublev signaled his determination to reclaim the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title on Wednesday, as the ruthless Russian dispatched fellow former champion Ugo Humbert in a titanic, three-set tussle on center court.
As a two-time finalist in Dubai and the winner there in 2022, Rublev already has fond memories of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium. Meanwhile Humbert, who has also tasted success in Dubai having edged Alexander Bublik to the title in 2024, was looking to tame a second former winner in the space of 24 hours after eliminating reigning champion Stefanos Tsitsipas on Tuesday.
In the early stages of the match a smattering of vocal young fans stirred up an endless cacophony of noise from all four grandstands as the near-capacity crowd repeatedly serenaded both players with cries of “Let’s go, Andrey” and “Allez, Ugo,” the even split among the supporters mirroring the evenly matched contest.
The nail-biter of a match went with serve for the first six games before, as is so often the case in professional tennis, the seventh proved to be a critical turning point. Rublev took advantage of two break points afforded by a pair of uncharacteristic double-faults by Humbert to achieve what Tsitsipas had failed to do in the entirety of their Round of 32 clash: he broke the Frenchman.
The set then resettled into a familiar pattern as the pair once again held serve amid minimal threats. And so, after 41 minutes of the back-and-forth, Rublev claimed the opening set 6-4 courtesy of that sole break of serve.
The second set mirrored the first, this time with both players avoiding a break of serve, until Humbert, the current world No. 37, narrowly edged the tiebreak 7-5 to even the match.
With very little separating the battling duo at this point, their seesaw duel was akin to two prize fighters exchanging punches with neither able to land a decisive blow. Buoyed no doubt by the feverish support from their respective fans, both players refused to buckle.
But then, with the third set tied at 1-1, Rublev held serve, broke and held again to win three straight games and move 4-1 ahead. The match then, predictably, once again went with serve until it was 5-3.
Then Humbert, facing the prospect of elimination, suddenly found himself with two break points as his opponent wobbled while serving for the match. The steely Russian held his nerve, however, and dispatched a trio of massive serves, including two aces, to reverse the deficit and set up his first match-point.
That was all the 28-year-old needed, as another huge serve forced a Humbert error and sealed the match 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3.
“It was a very dramatic ending,” Rublev said. “I’m really happy I was able to keep going and save the last game.
“It’s difficult to close a match; you can make a double-fault or a mistake, but I made three good serves and that helped me a lot. It’s much easier to win points from the serve than playing rallies every time.”
He commended his opponent, saying: “Ugo played really well. I took my two break chances but he served unbelievably all match. He shoots super hard and very fast, so it’s not easy to do something. I had to be ready for the one chance to break him in a set, and I got those chances and was able to do it.
“This match gives me a lot of confidence, so we’ll see what will happen in the quarterfinal. I’m playing well, so let’s see.”
Rublev now faces another Frenchmen, Arthur Rinderknech, who emerged victorious from a grueling three-set marathon against the British No. 4 seed, Jack Draper, 7-5, 6-7, 6-4.
Their match, which finished well after midnight and with an eerie mist hovering over center court, yielded only two breaks of serve, both of which went Rinderknech’s way. Despite the defeat, Draper can head home with his head held high as his return to top-level tennis continues after a six-month injury layoff.
On the new court 1, Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands pulled off the biggest upset of the day by taming No. 2 seed Alexander Bublik in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. The win earned the world No. 25 a quarterfinal encounter with No. 6 seed Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, who made short work of the Australian, Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-2.
