Loeb is the greatest ever WRC driver - Marcus Gronholm

[pino]

http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk...0WRC%20driver’

Do you guys agree ?

[I am evil Homer]

Yes. His out and out speed is immense, he's the best tarmac driver ever and has adapted to every type of gravel rally with huge success. It's not just the pure statistics of rally wins, wins in a season etc it's often the way he has gone about winning those events.

People say...ah no Safari, sprint rally etc but he'd have won those as well. If he'd been in a Delta Integrale in the early 90s I think he would have won as many events. A great driver is a great driver, full stop. The fact he can jump into an F1 car and get within 1 second of it's regular driver within a few hours shows he is an immense talent that I'm not sure we will see again to such a degree in a long time

But it's also a team..Elena and he have the best partnership with total trust. The way they make the pace notes and change them during the course of an event mark them out as above the competition.

The there's his mental approach which is better than anyone he always drives to within his limits which is why he doesn't crash that often.

[Finni]

Bosse has competed against all those drivers he mentions in the interview and he knows he is better than all of them. Seb is different case and that's why Marcus rates Seb above all those other drivers.

I actually agree Marcus. In my view Marcus is the best finnish driver in last 15 years - as fast as Loeb on gravel but not as smart as a driver. In terms of statistics there is huge difference between those two but in terms of real performance, I think, Marcus' last year was indicative (Loeb won narrowly, mainly due to asphalt).

[Tomi]

It's easy to agree with Bosse in this case.

[sal]

As we are talking the WRC rather than the World Rally Championship as it was prior to when the marketing men got hold of it I would say yes.

You cant deny the mans achievements and the way the team has been built around him just like Mitsu was with Makinen and even Ferrari with Schumi. Citroen are legendary for their preparation and thoroughness and their hard work has allowed Seb to concentrate on the winning bit of the job

However I still believe you cant compare his achievements to those of drivers prior to when the teams were forced to do an entire championship and therefore picked and chose thier events. If he had moved teams like say Rohrl did and then had the same results my hat would be well and truly off!

[Duby]

the only one that i might rate high in this list is - Juha Kankunen...

why ? couse he is the only champ that won both with group-B and the "new era" cars .



duby

[WRCfan]

I agree with a post which mentioned using different cars like Walter Rohl and being a winner in a range of cars. The WRC of today and the WRC of old are so different and pitting drivers of both era's against each other is very hard.

Modern WRC, yes Loeb is a pure class act and is for sure the most sucessful. Although for me the likes of Vatanen, Rohl, Mikkola, Kankkunen, Sainz will always for some reason hold more of a special place over Loeb.

Also someone mentioned about Kankkunen being a winner in both Group B and WRC machines. That is something special. Miki Biasion is similar although in the Group B machines and Group A. I agree with what Marcus said totally though. If anyone knows, he knows for sure!!!

[pino]

As we are talking the WRC rather than the World Rally Championship as it was prior to when the marketing men got hold of it I would say yes.

From wrc.com :

Marcus Gronholm, one of the most successful WRC drivers of the modern era, believes that 2008 World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb is the greatest driver in the history of the sport.

So I am not sure Marcus is only talking about WRC, that's why I disgree with him.

[DonJippo]

I voted no not because I don't rate Loeb as a great driver but because whole idea of comparing drivers from different era's just don't make sense IMO. And when you think about it, what else would Marcus say having been beaten several times by Loeb... How would it make him look if he says anything else than Loeb is the greatest ever?

[DIMI44]

Loeb is the most succesfull driver.... YES,greatest NO because a comparison with the others WRChampions is impossible.