# Pierre-Louis Loubet

Pierre-Louis Loubet (French pronunciation:; born 18 February 1997) is a French rally driver. He is the 2019 World Rally Championship 2 Champion. He is the son of the 1989 European Rally Champion Yves Loubet.

## Career
### Early career

Loubet started karting at 7 years old at the Figari circuit, close to his Porto-Vecchio family residence. After a year of Formula Renault in 2014, he switches to rallying after obtaining his drivers license.

### Beginnings in rallying (2015)

Loubet made his entry into world rallying in the JWRC category in Portugal, where he would finish 2nd in his category with Victor Belotto as a co-driver. After retirements in Finland and Poland, he started the 2015 Tour de Corse with new co-driver Vincent Landais, but would also retire from the rally. He would finish the year with a 5th place in Catalunya and 4th in Wales. He would finish the year 6th overall in the 2015 Junior World Rally Championship.

### Initial WRC2 Campaign (2016)

Pierre-Louis started the 2016 WRC-2 campaign on a Peugeot 207 S2000 in Portugal with a retirement, before switching to a Citroën DS3 R5 run by PH Sport. He would then go on to score several points finishes in Sardinia, Poland and Corsica in WRC2, before scoring a podium in Catalunya in the RC2 category.

### M-Sport (2017)

Starting the year with PH Sport in Sweden, he retired due to an engine failure and duly switched to M-Sport and the Ford Fiesta R5, alongside Eric Camilli and Teemu Suninen before Corsica. This would be marked as a consistent year with many points finishes (4th in Catalunya being the best result), but with no podiums.

### Hyundai / BRC Racing Team (2018)

Hoping to take a step up in 2018, Loubet switched to the new Hyundai i20 R5, driving for BRC Racing Team. He started the year with a limited FIA ERC campaign in the Azores and Canary Islands, both of which were impacted by mechanical and electronical failures, but with a decent pace to show for it. After more issues in Corsica, he would finish a season-best 4th in Portugal, with retirements being the theme of the season in Italy, Germany and Wales.

### First title (2019)

Loubet started 2019 as he had done in 2018 with a two-event European Rally Championship campaign, again in the Azores and Canary Islands. He would have to retire before the final stage with an alternator belt failure, despite being on the podium. In the Canary Islands, a false start penalty would demote him from 3rd to 5th place, but the pace shown in the Skoda was promising. He arrived to Corsica hoping to take a good result at his rally, but small issues would hinder his pace, and he would finish 10th in class. Starting with Portugal however, he went on a consistent and quick pace to win Portugal and Sardinia. He would then go on to finish 4th in Finland. After the summer break, he battled it out with Petter Solberg at Wales Rally GB, finishing 2nd and taking the championship lead. He would then finish 4th in Catalunya, narrowly missing out on clinching the title. The decision had been made to enter Rally Australia for a final round showdown against Benito Guerra, however, following the widespread bushfires in New South Wales, the rally would be cancelled, crowning Loubet as champion with a 3-point advantage over Kajetan Kajetanowicz.

## Rally results
### WRC results

| Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | WDC | Points |
| 2015 | Pierre-Louis Loubet | Citroën DS3 R3T Max | MON | SWE | MEX | ARG | POR 28 | ITA | POL Ret | FIN Ret | GER | AUS | FRA Ret | ESP 32 | GBR 34 | | NC | 0 |
| 2016 | Pierre-Louis Loubet | Peugeot 207 S2000 | MON | SWE | MEX | ARG | POR Ret | | | | | | | | | | NC | 0 |
| 2016 | Pierre-Louis Loubet | Citroën DS3 R5 | | | | | | ITA 17 | POL 18 | FIN Ret | GER 12 | CHN C | FRA 25 | ESP 13 | GBR 41 | AUS | NC | 0 |
| 2017 | Pierre-Louis Loubet | Citroën DS3 R5 | MON | SWE Ret | MEX | | | | | | | | | | | | NC | 0 |
| 2017 | Pierre-Louis Loubet | Ford Fiesta R5 | | | | FRA 15 | ARG | POR 25 | ITA 19 | POL 21 | FIN 31 | GER 14 | ESP 11 | GBR 20 | AUS | | NC | 0 |
| 2018 | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i20 R5 | MON | SWE | MEX | FRA 23 | ARG | POR 11 | ITA Ret | FIN 15 | GER Ret | TUR | GBR Ret | ESP 18 | AUS | | NC | 0 |
| 2019 | Pierre-Louis Loubet | Škoda Fabia R5 | MON | SWE | MEX | FRA 44 | ARG | CHL | POR 9 | ITA 11 | FIN 14 | GER | TUR | | | | 21st | 2 |
| 2019 | Pierre-Louis Loubet | Škoda Fabia R5 Evo | | | | | | | | | | | | GBR 12 | ESP 17 | AUS C | 21st | 2 |
| 2020 | Hyundai 2C Competition | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | MON | SWE | MEX | EST Ret | TUR Ret | ITA 7 | MNZ | | | | | | | | 19th | 6 |
| 2021 | Hyundai 2C Competition | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | MON 16 | ARC 39 | CRO 29 | POR Ret | ITA Ret | KEN WD | EST 7 | BEL 68 | GRE Ret | FIN | ESP WD | MNZ | | | 18th | 6 |
| 2022 | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford Puma Rally1 | MON | SWE | CRO 47 | POR 7 | ITA 4 | KEN | EST Ret | FIN Ret | BEL | GRE 4 | NZL | ESP 10 | JPN | | 13th | 31 |
| 2023 | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford Puma Rally1 | MON Ret | SWE 6 | MEX 27 | CRO 7 | POR 32 | ITA Ret | KEN 7 | EST 6 | FIN 45 | GRE Ret | CHL Ret | EUR 10 | JPN | | 12th | 29 |
* Season still in progress.

### WRC-2 results

| Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | WDC | Points |
| 2016 | Pierre-Louis Loubet | Peugeot 207 S2000 | MON | SWE | MEX | ARG | POR Ret | | | | | | | | | | 10th | 36 |
| 2016 | Pierre-Louis Loubet | Citroën DS3 R5 | | | | | | ITA 6 | POL 6 | FIN Ret | GER 5 | CHN C | FRA 5 | ESP | GBR | AUS | 10th | 36 |
| 2017 | Pierre-Louis Loubet | Citroën DS3 R5 | MON | SWE Ret | MEX | | | | | | | | | | | | 10th | 39 |
| 2017 | Pierre-Louis Loubet | Ford Fiesta R5 | | | | FRA 6 | ARG | POR 10 | ITA 5 | POL | FIN 7 | GER 5 | ESP | GBR 8 | AUS | | 10th | 39 |
| 2018 | Pierre-Louis Loubet | Hyundai i20 R5 | MON | SWE | MEX | FRA 6 | ARG | POR 4 | ITA Ret | FIN 5 | GER Ret | TUR | GBR Ret | ESP 7 | AUS | | 11th | 36 |
| 2019 | Pierre-Louis Loubet | Škoda Fabia R5 | MON | SWE | MEX | FRA 10 | ARG | CHL | POR 1 | ITA 1 | FIN 4 | GER | TUR | | | | 1st | 91 |
| 2019 | Pierre-Louis Loubet | Škoda Fabia R5 Evo | | | | | | | | | | | | GBR 2 | ESP 5 | AUS C | 1st | 91 |