Quote Originally Posted by tbtstt View Post
My short answer to the original question "How good was Sebastien Loeb?" would be "very" (and I would also correct the original question by saying that he still is good rather than was good!).

I personally think that direct comparisons are very difficult, if not impossible. Drivers who were very successful in one era would not have fared as well in others as the design of the cars - and the optimum driving style for getting the best out of them - evolved: you don't have to look too hard to find plenty of examples of drivers that fall into that category.

I do think that Loeb would be held in higher esteem if there had been more competition (i.e. more manufacturers) in his prime seasons, but for me he was an incredible driver, in the right team in the perfect era for his driving style. Of course a change in team would have allowed him to demonstrate versatility (which I think is the mark of a true great), but the options weren't really there at the time. I also agree with previous comments that it's a real shame we never got see a full season of Loeb/Citroen versus Ogier/VW.
Yeah I agree, thats a good summary.

To expand on your second point, part of the reason Kankkunen is rated so highly by many is because he was successful across such a wide range of car formats - 2wd Group 4, 2wd Group B, 4wd Group B, Group A, and WRC. Only driver to win championships with 3 different manufacturers, his first WRC rally wins were in 1985 and his last were in 1999 - 14 years later! Coming out of retirement to finish 8th at Rally Finland 2010 at the age of 51 was pretty respectable too.

I guess you're right that Loeb could have changed manufacturer if he really wanted to prove a point, but even if he had done that the WRC car format stayed pretty similar right through his career (changes in engine size/power and active vs passive diffs but they've all been 4wd cars of similar architecture) so he never had the chance to show the same adaptability. And vice versa we will never know what results Kankkunen might have had if he had spent his whole career in the same team like Loeb did, often with the biggest budget and probably best car that was so well suited to him.

So I'll just say I think they're both among the best ever and leave it at that.