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If Loeb's run of six wins in 2004 was amazing, how can one describe his ten wins in 2005? Since no words suffice, let pictures speak instead. Behold, Loeb's ten wins.
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Besides Loeb, podiums were divided with mathematical precision. Both Solberg and Gronholm scored eight podiums and they were the pair that fought for the second place in the championship. Martin and Duval, former team-mates, and Gardemeister, replacement for Martin, all scored four podiums. Suprises of the season were Stohl, Atkinson and Hirvonen who all scored their first podiums, Stohl even two and on private car.
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If former categories were a bit dull, points finish statistics springs some surprises. Behind Loeb's string of 14 points finishes the second most consistent driver is Gardemeister and another Ford driver Kresta shares third slot with Martin whose season was cut short, unfortunately. Ford needed both of their drivers to keep alive the longest running points finish streak.
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Two drivers came out of retirement, Sainz and McRae. But the one who retired most often during the season was Gronholm. It is curious to note that even if car was more reliable than last year, Marcus still retired six times, as many as the year before.
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Stage wins statistics provide interesting insight. Following both Peugeot's and Mitsubishi's switch to Pirelli for 2005 season, the italian tyres won almost as many stages as the french ones.
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Not rally leaders because in fact, there really was only one driver who led rallies, usually from start to finish. Sebastien Loeb spent time in the lead for almost 58 percent of the stages in the season.
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Once again Finland was the fastest and Cyprus the slowest rally. But in other event statistics the effects of two new rules are clearly evident. Competitive distance of the rallies was cut by approximately 40-50 kilometers per event. On retirement ratio statistics the effects of the superally regulations that allowed retired crews to rejoin the rally naturally meant that much fewer crews retired.
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