Sebastien Ogier on the cusp of ninth world title at Rally Saudi Arabia
29th November 2025Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier is on the cusp of matching the legendary Sebastien Loeb with a potential ninth title at Rally Saudi Arabia.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool
The major storyline heading into the rally weekend was not the new event, it was not Martins Sesks’ rally-leading performance, it was the championship fight.
Three Toyota drivers lined up the weekend within championship contention: Ogier, Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanpera.
Ogier entered the event trailing Evans by three points. After three days, the eight-time world champion found himself in sixth, ahead of Evans, who was eighth.
However, after a hellish penultimate stage, which saw Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta roll his Rally1 Yaris with significant damage, and punctures for Rovanpera and M-Sport Ford’s Martins Sesks, It now means the eight-time world champion jumps up to second place.
The eight-time world champion currently splits the two Hyundais heading into the final stage of the season, and the Saudi Arabian Wolf Power Stage.
Ogier finds himself one minute and 10 seconds off the rally lead, occupied by Hyundai’s outgoing world champion, Thierry Neuville, and 19 seconds ahead of Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux.
However, there is talk of Fourmaux being handed a nominated time after driving slowly in the dust of other drivers ahead of him.
The Toyota driver’s closest championship rival, Evans, currently occupies sixth as Rovanpera drops to seventh.
In the provisional standings, heading into the final stage, Ogier is set to be crowned world champion in 2025 and will tie the record with Loeb.
As it stands, Ogier provisionally leads the championship by seven points (290) ahead of Evans (283), as Rovanpera provisionally remains in third on 254 points.
Read more WRC here:
- Sesks inherits lead after Saudi Arabia day 3 as title goes to the wire
- Evans puncture drops him down order after morning loop at Rally Saudi Arabia
- Fourmaux leads Rally Saudi Arabia while Evans loses ground
- Sesks leads Rally Saudi Arabia as title contenders fall behind
- Rally Saudi Arabia: the schedule ahead of the WRC finale
- Rally Japan: 3 Winners and Losers
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
