A childhood dream, a secret plan, and a WRC Yaris: Esteban Ocon experienced his own personal highlight at Goodwood
“When I was little, I had a dream: to buy a WRC car one day and drive it to the shops,” says Esteban Ocon. The Formula 1 driver from the Haas team may not be able to fulfill this wish, but he has now come a big step closer to doing so.
At this year’s Festival of Speed in Goodwood, England, Ocon was given the opportunity to drive a modern rally car for the first time.
Here’s how it happened: Ocon had repeatedly told officials from Haas partner Toyota about his dream. During a visit to Japan, he was allowed to drive a road-legal Yaris on gravel.
Surprise for Ocon in Goodwood
Months later, Ocon had a moment of confusion when he read “Esteban / WRC” on a Goodwood schedule.
“I called [team boss] Ayao Komatsu and asked, ‘What’s this? Am I driving a WRC car?’ He said, ‘No, we just made a mistake. You’re just sitting in as a passenger.’ And then he laughed. But in the end, it turned out that Toyota had a huge surprise in store for me.“
Ocon was actually allowed to take the wheel of the WRC Yaris and drive it himself. ”It was exactly the experience I’d always wanted,” he explains.
How Ocon experienced the WRC drive
The drive “didn’t disappoint him, but really impressed him.” That’s because the WRC car is “perfectly designed and well thought out,” says Ocon. “It reminded me of DTM cars. The steering is smooth as butter and very easy to handle. The accelerator pedal has a short travel – you have to press it all the way down immediately. I had a lot of fun.“
So much so that Ocon can now imagine taking part in an official rally event ”for fun after my Formula 1 career“ – ”but never in the top class,” he emphasizes.
And he’ll probably never drive a WRC car to go shopping either: “These cars are street legal, but you need a special permit to use them in competition.” Ocon says he couldn’t have known that when he was twelve.
Nevertheless, he is “eternally grateful” to Toyota for his test drive at Goodwood. And now Ocon is speculating about a test under competitive conditions – “just for fun, if they give me the opportunity. I’ll probably have to give them a call sometime…”