Olivier Pernaut: “I never told myself that I was going to become a professional driver”

Nice mini Olivier, what is his story?

It's a Mini 1000 from 1982. It's a great little car that my grandmother gave me in 1996. It doesn't develop a lot of horsepower, but it's very nice. I learned to drive with it on dirt roads and fields. I damaged it badly. I have lots of family memories with this car, we tinkered with it quite a bit with my father. Together we fixed any stupid things I might have done while driving. We changed several parts for example, including the exhaust. We did this in the Amiens region (We Are. Editor’s note) where we had a country house. I had left it somewhat neglected for a few years and decided to renovate it about ten years ago. It is like the original.

Your father, Jean-Pierre Pernaut, left us two years ago. Did he play an important part in your passion?

I studied automotive engineering because I am passionate about mechanics. Motorsport was already part of the family since my paternal grandfather was president of the ASA of Picardy. My uncle was a pilot rally at the time when Jean Todt was co-pilot. He drove Mini Coopers. Or he would hijack his mother's car to go do gymkhana or village slaloms. He also took care of assisting his brother on rallies. My father always hung out in this world that he was particularly fond of.

Was he willing to see you ride if studies followed?

As far as I was concerned, studies took priority. So I didn't do karting or very little, just rental karts with the TF1 CE! We really did small races