Twenty euros. That was how much it cost Sébastien Ogier to launch a glittering rally career that has to date delivered seven world drivers’ titles.
Ogier was one of a legion of eager youngsters to enroll in France’s Rallye Jeunes talent-finding scheme in the hope of proving to himself, and others, that he had the ability to carve out a future in the FIA World Rally Championship.
That process began with an initial driving assessment.
“I’m always proud to say I invest 20 euros to participate in this test and that brings me up to where I am today so that’s definitely the best investment ever,” Ogier tells Becs Williams in a fascinating interview for the latest WRC Backstories podcast.
Growing up in a small village near Gap meant Ogier joined locals to watch Rallye Monte-Carlo as it passed close to his home each year. That fired his passion for rallying, but it was watching his uncle compete that first grabbed Ogier’s attention as a toddler.
“I had an uncle who was competing in autocross in France and I was following him as a kid. My parents told me I was there the first time when I was three months old in a buggy. The passion for the sport came here,” he added.
“Basically as a teenager, rally was looking unreachable because it was way too expensive so the first dream was having the chance to compete some races in autocross like my uncle.”
Ogier explains how victory at his FIA Junior WRC debut in Mexico gave him self-belief to progress, how Volkswagen Motorsport’s WRC departure in 2016 sparked a new challenge and how fatherhood has taught him how to better handle his emotions.
In the hour-long chat, he also discusses his rivalry with fellow countryman Sébastien Loeb and how he has learned to be less outspoken in his comments.
“When you start a career as a young athlete in any sport you are always very determined and you believe that only your sport capacity will bring you to the top,” Ogier said.
“But then comes a day when you realize that at the end that also politics is also playing a big part in our sports and, of course, in my young years I was not the best to handle it.
“There were some years where, for sure, it cost me also a bit to be a bit too honest and a bit too direct in the way I was talking, but it was part of the learning maybe.
“Today I am still very honest in my answers all the time but sometimes, of course, I have learned to say it a little bit in a better way and a little bit more correct. But still, it remains a difficult exercise to handle your emotions.”
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