Daniel Elena

Daniel Elena

Elena in 2012.
Personal information
Nationality	Monegasque
Born	(1972-10-26) 26 October 1972
World Rally Championship record
Active years	1998–2013, 2015, 2018–present
Teams	Citroën, Kronos Citroën, Hyundai
Rallies	180
Championships	9 (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012)
Rally wins	79
Podiums	118
Stage wins	924
First rally	1998 Monte Carlo Rally
First win	2002 Rallye Deutschland
Last win	2018 Rally Catalunya
Last rally	2020 Monte Carlo Rally

Daniel Elena (born 26 October 1972) is a Monégasque rally co-driver working with Sébastien Loeb. Between them, the pair have won the World Rally Championship (WRC) nine times, and currently compete with Hyundai. 79 wins make him the co-driver with the most victories in the history of the WRC.

Career

He started rallying in 1997 as co-driver to Hervé Bernard, but became Loeb's co-driver the following season and quickly developed a strong relationship with him, winning the Citroën Saxo Trophy in 1999 and the French gravel title the following year.

In 2001, they won the FIA Super 1600 championship in their Citroën Saxo, becoming an obvious choice for Citroën's WRC team, which they made their first start for that year, going on to take their first win at Rallye Deutschland in 2002. They went on to take nine consecutive World Rally Championship titles between 2004 and 2012.

Elena celebrating victory at the 2005 Cyprus Rally.

Loeb and Elena have won Elena's home rally, the famous Monte Carlo Rally seven times (2003–2005, 2007–2008, 2012–2013).

Elena is the first person to have received the Michael Park Trophy, which is now given yearly to the best co-driver.

Personal life

Elena is married and he has 2 children. He and his family reside near Lausanne, Switzerland.

Commitment

Elena is today a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization.

Complete WRC results

WRC results

As driver

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
1998	Daniel Elena	Peugeot 106 Rallye	MON 36	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRC	NZL	FIN	ITA	AUS	GBR

As co-driver

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
1999	Equipe de France FFSA	Citroën Saxo Kit Car	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP Ret	FRA 19	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	CHN	ITA 21	AUS	GBR
2000	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën Saxo Kit Car	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN Ret	CYP				GBR 38
	Equipe de France FFSA	Toyota Corolla WRC											FRA 9	ITA 10	AUS
2001	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën Saxo Kit Car	MON 15	SWE Ret	POR
		Citroën Saxo S1600				ESP 15	ARG	CYP	GRE 19	KEN	FIN 28	NZL		FRA 13	AUS	GBR 15
	Automobiles Citroën	Citroën Xsara WRC											ITA 2
2002	Automobiles Citroën	Citroën Xsara WRC	MON 2	SWE 17	FRA	ESP Ret	CYP	ARG	GRE 7	KEN 5	FIN 10	GER 1	ITA	NZL		GBR Ret
	Piedrafita Sport														AUS 7
2003	Citroën Total	Citroën Xsara WRC	MON 1	SWE 7	TUR Ret	NZL 4	ARG Ret	GRE Ret	CYP 3	GER 1	FIN 5	AUS 2	ITA 1	FRA 13	ESP 2	GBR 2
2004	Citroën Total	Citroën Xsara WRC	MON 1	SWE 1	MEX Ret	NZL 4	CYP 1	GRE 2	TUR 1	ARG 2	FIN 4	GER 1	JPN 2	GBR 2	ITA 2	FRA 2	ESP Ret	AUS 1
2005	Citroën Total	Citroën Xsara WRC	MON 1	SWE Ret	MEX 4	NZL 1	ITA 1	CYP 1	TUR 1	GRE 1	ARG 1	FIN 2	GER 1	GBR 3	JPN 2	FRA 1	ESP 1	AUS Ret
2006	Kronos Total Citroën WRT	Citroën Xsara WRC	MON 2	SWE 2	MEX 1	ESP 1	FRA 1	ARG 1	ITA 1	GRE 2	GER 1	FIN 2	JPN 1	CYP 1	TUR	AUS	NZL	GBR
2007	Citroën Total WRT	Citroën C4 WRC	MON 1	SWE 2	NOR 14	MEX 1	POR 1	ARG 1	ITA Ret	GRE 2	FIN 3	GER 1	NZL 2	ESP 1	FRA 1	JPN Ret	IRE 1	GBR 3
2008	Citroën Total WRT	Citroën C4 WRC	MON 1	SWE Ret	MEX 1	ARG 1	JOR 10	ITA 1	GRE 1	TUR 3	FIN 1	GER 1	NZL 1	ESP 1	FRA 1	JPN 3	GBR 1
2009	Citroën Total WRT	Citroën C4 WRC	IRE 1	NOR 1	CYP 1	POR 1	ARG 1	ITA 4	GRE Ret	POL 7	FIN 2	AUS 2	ESP 1	GBR 1
2010	Citroën Total WRT	Citroën C4 WRC	SWE 2	MEX 1	JOR 1	TUR 1	NZL 3	POR 2	BUL 1	FIN 3	GER 1	JPN 5	FRA 1	ESP 1	GBR 1
2011	Citroën Total WRT	Citroën DS3 WRC	SWE 6	MEX 1	POR 2	JOR 3	ITA 1	ARG 1	GRE 2	FIN 1	GER 2	AUS 10	FRA Ret	ESP 1	GBR Ret
2012	Citroën Total WRT	Citroën DS3 WRC	MON 1	SWE 6	MEX 1	POR Ret	ARG 1	GRE 1	NZL 1	FIN 1	GER 1	GBR 2	FRA 1	ITA Ret	ESP 1
2013	Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT	Citroën DS3 WRC	MON 1	SWE 2	MEX	POR	ARG 1	GRE	ITA	FIN	GER	AUS	FRA Ret	ESP	GBR
2015	Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT	Citroën DS3 WRC	MON 8	SWE	MEX	ARG	POR	ITA	POL	FIN	GER	AUS	FRA	ESP	GBR
2018	Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT	Citroën C3 WRC	MON	SWE	MEX 5	FRA 14	ARG	POR	ITA	FIN	GER	TUR	GBR	ESP 1	AUS
2019	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	MON 4	SWE 7	MEX	FRA 8	ARG	CHL 3	POR Ret	ITA	FIN	GER	TUR	GBR	ESP 4	AUS C
2020	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	MON 6	SWE	MEX	ARG	POR	ITA	KEN	FIN	NZL	TUR	GER	GBR	JPN

JWRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6
2001	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën Saxo Kit Car	ESP 1	GRE 1
		Citroën Saxo S1600			FIN 1	ITA	FRA 1	GBR 1

References

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Laure Manaudou Alain Bernard	French Sportsperson of the Year (with Sébastien Loeb) 2007 2009	Succeeded by Alain Bernard Christophe Lemaitre