Toyota's deputy team principal Juha Kankkunen has weighed in on the WRC G.O.A.T debate
Photography by Toyota
Words by Luke Barry
Toyota deputy team principal, and four-time World Rally champion, Juha Kankkunen has spoken.
For him, Sébastien Ogier is now the greatest driver in the history of the World Rally Championship.
Ogier claimed his ninth title at Rally Saudi Arabia despite missing three of the events (Sweden, Safari and Estonia), defeating Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans by just four points.
That moved him level with Sébastien Loeb, who won nine consecutive world titles between 2004-12.
Ogier’s titles have been spread further apart, with six on the bounce from 2013-18 before Ott Tänak beat him in 2019. Ogier then returned to title-winning ways in 2020-21 before calling time on his full-time WRC career.
While Loeb won all of his championships with the same manufacturer (Citroën), Ogier has been champion with three teams (Volkswagens, M-Sport Ford and Toyota) and has also now done so with two different co-drivers (Julien Ingrassia and Vincent Landais).
Kankkunen is the only other driver to win the WRC with three different manufacturers (Peugeot, Lancia and Toyota).
He told DirtFish: “It’s a great honor that we have him [Ogier] in the team and we have him next year as well as a strong pillar.
“I think now he has to be considered the greatest driver in the history of the World Rally Championship. Because there is nothing… [Sébastien] Loeb won all of his championships with the same manufacturer but Séb, like me, has won with three different manufacturers. So I give him as the greatest driver ever.”
Loeb and Ogier’s compatriot, Adrien Fourmaux, also weighed in on the debate.
“It’s hard to say because they fight in different times,” Fourmaux told DirtFish. “The only thing that I would say, if I take for example in Formula 1, everybody says [Juan Manuel] Fangio because he won the championship in different cars. And Sébastien Ogier did it in different cars.
“So if you take that, it’s going to be Sébastien Ogier.”
Read our thoughts on the WRC G.O.A.T. debate on Club DirtFish now.
Now the two domineering Frenchmen are statistically level, David Evans, Alasdair Lindsay and Luke Barry weigh in on the WRC G.O.A.T. debate
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: Juha Kankkunen, Sebastien Loeb, Sébastien Ogier, WRC, WRC 2025
Publish Date November 30, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/11/t16F1Olp-OGIER14KSA25TB501-780x520.jpg November 30, 2025
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