Erik's choice!

At 20, the young man was dreaming of rallying and Formula One. He emptied his saving account to sign up for Volant Elf in 1984, to try his one and only chance.

He had discovered karting a few years earlier, but had to wait until he was 18 to make his competitive debut. Two years later, he was French champion, and the year he turned 21, he signed up with Winfield at Paul Ricard. “I loved rallying, but I had to buy a car, he recalls. I loved F1, but you had to raise a lot of money to get into single-seaters. I'd always heard about the "Volant Elf", and it was clearly the only way forward for me. I had 12,000 francs in my bank account (€3,900 today), which was the amount I needed to pay for all the courses up to the final if I was good enough. So I went to the first course. I engraved in my memory the wooden pedalboard with which you had to demonstrate that your ankles were capable of doing the heel-toe!".

The sessions went brilliantly for the young man from Romans-sur-Isère who, at the same time, signed up for the "Marlboro seeks its driver..." operation. "All you had to do was fill in a registration form at a Ford dealership," explains Erik. "I was called to Croix-en-Ternois, where I won the day. There were 12 selections across France, and the 12 winners were in the final to win a season of F. Ford. The final was to be held before the Volant Elf, where I had also qualified." An extra chance for the Dr?mois that Winfield, who insisted on total equality between its finalists, could not accept. “If you take part in the Volant Marlboro, you won't be accepted here, I was warned. My goal was the F. Renault, so I didn't hesitate for a second."

On November 4, 1984, his choice proved to be the right one. He convinced a jury including Philippe Streiff, Didier Pironi and Jean Ragnotti, succeeding Eric Bernard and becoming the 14th Volant Elf Paul Ricard. "If I hadn't won, it would have stopped there!”.

French F3 champion in 1988 and F3000 international in 1990, he saw his F1 dreams come true in 1991 with Ligier.