The little kid with a big dream who made it: Guerrieri reveals a life less ordinary on #WTCR Fast Talk podcast presented by Goodyear

If Esteban Guerrieri goes one better and wins the WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup title this season, it will be the latest in a long line of achievements by a driver who started out with little, never had much but always delivered when given the chance.

A career based on earning and taking chances against the odds is the subject of the latest edition of WTCR Fast Talk presented by Goodyear and hosted by Martin Haven, the voice of the WTCR.

In part one, which is available from 12h00 CET (6 May), Guerrieri talks about his unlikely rise from karting for fun on a Saturday morning in early 1990s Buenos Aires, to celebrating on the Silverstone podium with a piece of sticky tape covering his mouth, having just beaten current Renault Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo with a final-lap pass.

Along the way he got the better of some of the best, brokered deals bordering on the bizarre, missed out on several big breaks, cried and laughed but never stopped believing because “something will happen”, the 35-year-old recalls on WTCR Fast Talk.

“Somehow I had this dream inside me,” he remembers. “I was just a kid with this big dream and that’s what I say to all the kids I can speak with to never stop dreaming and follow that fire that’s inside you. Keep believing and something will happen.”

As an eight-year-old Guerrieri’s life changed forever, when karting became a more serious pastime and he moved schools, essentially because of something he heard his idol Ayrton Senna say in an interview. And eight years later, aged 16, he left behind home comforts bound for Italy to continue the pursuit of his improbable dream.

“When I was in second grade, I heard Ayrton Senna in an interview saying to become a Formula One driver you had to understand computers and telemetry and of course to speak English,” Guerrieri says. “I asked my mother to go to bilingual school to learn English. They changed me to a bilingual school and I learned English because I had in my mind to come to race in Europe.

“Actually, in the mornings when I didn’t want to wake up for school, I said to my mother ‘when I have the chance to go to race in Europe you will let me go, right?’ She would say ‘yeah Esteban, but now it’s time to go to school so wake up’.”

With his parents − and older brother and sister − supporting his career mainly with encouragement, plus whatever surplus cash could be found, Guerrieri won the Argentine Formula Renault title in 2000 and earned a scholarship seat in the Italian equivalent for 2001.

Although he returned home penniless with no clear next move several times, he always bounced back, eventually reaching the FIA World Touring Car Championship in 2016 having won plenty in European single-seaters. Last season, he finished runner-up to Norbert Michelisz in WTCR driving a Honda Civic Type R TCR for ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport.

Guerrieri’s WTCR Fast Talk podcast presented by Goodyear, the WTCR’s official tyre supplier, is available in two parts at FIAWTCR.com and other outlets from 12h00 CET today (Wednesday) with part two following from 12h00 CET on Friday (8 May).

PART 1 CONTENT (available from 6 May)
02m05: A balcony in Barcelona for lockdown

03m16: Training and simulator sessions during quarantine

04m10: A father with a passion for driving and a mother who provides a helping hand

05m15: When pieces of wood make the difference

06m25: Enthusiasm recognised

06m45: Karting for real begins aged eight

07m43: Success rises but economy falls

08m15: No money means no more karting in 1999…

09m28: …until a “key moment” during a family meeting

10m29: Argentine Formula Renault success with ex-racer Luciano Crespi

12m25: Heading to Europe with José María López after winning a shootout

13m28: Leaving home having followed Ayrton Senna’s advice to learn computers and English

14m52: A kid with a big dream

15m43: Arriving in Europe, sharing a house and PlayStation with López

17m06: Early promise in 2001 but budget problems then hit hard

18m00: Moving to Switzerland as a rescue plan is put in place

18m55: Success in German Formula Renault in 2002 with Jenzer Motorsport and cycling to work

19m55: Winning a crucial title on return to Italy

20m38: Becomes European Formula Renault champion in 2003

20m41: Big hopes for 2004 but hopes soon dashed when Argentine support ends

23m14: A champion with nothing

23m25: Impressing Toto Wolff

24m32: Back to Europe and to an old Peugeot 306 for a drive to Monaco

25m49: Turning Toto down

26m30: Italian F3 salvation with an unusual job offer

27m10: Borrowing money to fly to Barcelona for Formula 3000 test chance

28m16: Heading to Imola after old manager Julio Gutierrez comes to the rescue

30m25: Taking a bus to test with Christian Horner’s Arden team

32m20: Formula 3 move and a switch from Mercedes to Toyota power

33m25: Coming up against Hamilton in 2005

34m05: Landing Mercedes support for 2006 after Hamilton-beating Hockenheim test

35m20: Back to Argentina after DTM hopes dashed

36m22: Light still at the end of the tunnel

36m58: A phone call from England revives the Formula One dream for 2007

38m00: Formula Renault 3.5 promotion in 2008

38m45: Super cars in Superleague Formula for 2009

40m05: Back in Formula Renault 3.5 at MotorLand Aragón

42m00: No money for Indy Lights for 2010 following strong test

42m38: Plans to finish high school in Argentina interrupted when Igor Salaquarda offers a lifeline

43m43: Spa-Francorchamps victory provides new hope and a chance to coach in Monaco

45m02: Vital ‘home’ race win for ISR secures full-time Formula Renault 3.5 drive

46m40: Hopes hit in Hungary

47m36: Bouncing back at Hockenheim

48m30: Silverstone sorrow from pole-bid crash and getting stripped of race win

51m00: The perfect payback and a cheeky sticky tape podium celebration

SELECTED QUOTES FROM PART ONE

Wood to the rescue
“When I was five or six, I used to go to the go-karts to see my brother and sister drive, but I was too short to reach the pedals. One day this guy from the track came with a wood extension for the pedals. That was the day it all started, it was a Saturday and every Saturday I asked my mum to go to this go-kart track in Buenos Aires. She accepted and was very much making the time, but it was not easy for a mother with three kids.”

No money means no more karting but there was a “vision”
“In 1999 I stopped driving go-karts because we had no more money but my Dad had this vision to go racing in single-seaters in 2000 when I was becoming 15. The economic situation was not easy but one day my Dad sat down with my sister and brother and said, ‘are we willing as a family to support Esteban for one more year in Formula Renault next year?’ The answer of my siblings was, ‘yes, let’s support Esteban for 2000’. All the money we were earning was saved to pay for the season and this was one of the key moments in my career.”

A kid with a big dream
“Somehow I had this dream inside me. I was just a kid with this big dream and that’s what I say to all the kids I can speak with to never stop dreaming and follow that fire that’s inside you. Keep believing and something will happen.”

Following idol Ayrton Senna’s advice
“When I was in second grade, I heard Ayrton Senna in an interview saying to become a Formula One driver you had to understand computers and telemetry and of course to speak English. I asked my mother to go to bilingual school to learn English. They changed me to a bilingual school and I learned English because I had in my mind to come to race in Europe. Actually, in the mornings when I didn’t want to wake up for school, I said to my mother ‘when I have the chance to go to race in Europe you will let me go, right?’ She would say ‘yeah, but now it’s time to go to school so wake up’.”

Moving to Europe and sharing a house and a PlayStation with Pechito López
“My mum was wondering how I was eating and if I could handle myself emotionally but we had a person taking care of us. You can imagine it was not easy living in the same house because we were always competitive even when we played PlayStation or tennis. Everything was a competition. All of a sudden I had to become a strong personality and adapted quite well but my family was wondering how I was doing.”

Early promise in Italy but then budget gets hit
“All of a sudden in 2001 there was a big collapse in the economy in Argentina and it was very difficult to continue because it was a private project. My father and Luciano Crespi, who I raced with in Argentina, went to see my manager, Julio Gutierrez. They said, ‘they could [arrange] for Esteban to continue racing in Europe if you give one of the chassis Esteban is racing in 2001 to Andreas Jenzer. He will accept that as part of the budget [for German Formula Renault in 2002] and then you only have to invest very little money to continue’. That’s why I kept going.”

Riding a bike to work in Switzerland
“I had a very good year with Andreas and Esther, his wife, very nice people. I was in Switzerland living with one mechanic and one engineer from the team and I had not a driving licence yet, only for racing, so I was moving around with a bicycle. I had quite a few poles, I won four races but I was very young and very inconsistent and finished only third in the championship behind Christian Klien and Bruno Spengler.”

Win or lose opportunity in Pechito’s car
“My management said let’s do the Winter Cup with Cram in Italy at the end of 2002 and I knew this was a win or lose opportunity. If I wasn’t winning with Pechito’s car in the Winter Cup then I would be going back to Argentina. But I won against Toni Vilander. That gave me one more year with Cram in Formula Renault and I won the European championship and finished second in Italy.”

Time with Toto Wolff
“The idea was to do the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup with Cram in 2004. But my manager called me to his office in Argentina in early 2004 and told me, ‘Esteban, we cannot continue with the project, I did a couple of bad business [deals]’. My face was frozen. I was champion of Formula Renault European but I had nothing at all. In 2002 when I was with Jenzer I was in the same team as Bruno Spengler and his manager was Toto Wolff. Toto used to come to the race track and go around to some corners to watch. He would say, ‘Esteban, I can see you are doing some very nice lines’, and we became friends. He asked me what my contract situation was but I explained I had a contract with some Argentinian people. He said, ‘whenever you will be free let me know’. When my manager in Argentina told me [his news], all of a sudden came Toto to my head. I said to my manger, ‘please pay me for a ticket to go to Europe’ because I have some people to visit. I went back to Italy to Cram where I had an old Peugeot 306 with one month of insurance left. I called Toto and I went to Monaco to visit him. I had nothing, it was almost March 2004, and Toto told me I can make you a contract but now all the seats are taken, it’s too late, but let’s make a contract and we try to do something in 2005 when there is more time. I called my Dad and my ex-manager Julio and asked what I should do and they said, ‘if he can’t pay for you now to race in a good category don’t sign a contract’. I didn’t sign with Toto. That was one of the stories [when my career] could have been different. We still had a good relationship but nothing contractual.”

From unusual job offer to International Formula 3000
“I was going to race in Formula 3 in Italy, a seat the boss from Cram, Marcelo Rosei, sorted me with. It was not a very high-class category but that was all I had. The owner of the team was a handicap guy so in exchange I was going to drive him around. I said, ‘okay, let’s do this because I have nothing left’. The day I was going to his workshop I was in the gym and Enrique Scalabroni called me and invited me to a Formula 3000 test in Barcelona the following day. It was one week before the first race. He said, ‘I pay you for the test, you just need to get a flight’. I was like, ‘okay, but I have no money for the ticket’. So, I asked Marcelo to pay for the flight. It was a very good test and I insisted with Toto to try to pay for the year in 2004 but it was not a deal that could be done. There was a lot of pressure coming from Argentina to help me race and one month after my manager dropped me, he closed a deal and decided to back me again. With very low budget [required] from Enrique and my manager doing another big effort I raced in Formula 3000. I did only one day testing and the next week I went to drive in Imola. All of a sudden, I was one step below Formula One after these [tough] two months. It was just incredible.”

Red Bull door closes before it opens
“I had one of the chances of my career when Formula 3000 finished at the end of 2004. I was rookie of the season and Arden was there with Christian Horner. Enrique is a good friend with Dr [Helmut] Markko and was telling him he should sign me on a Red Bull contract. Christian told me he would like to test me. We had to cover the cost of the test and I remember taking a flight then a bus. I was prepared but I had never worked with a British team and I had nothing in my side to back me up when I was only 19. It was an okay test but not an impressive one.”

Formula One links alive with Midland F3 move
“We had no budget to go to GP2 which was the step to do. We signed a contract with the Kolles team to do the Formula 3 Euroseries in 2005 with a Mercedes engine. My manager [Julio] agreed to support me for one more year and it was quite impressive what he was doing. Colin Kolles was now with Midland in Formula One and his team in Formula 3 became Midland Junior. Midland was with Toyota so we had to use the Toyota engines in F3. It was not the deal we had on the table but they told us we would eventually have a chance in Formula One. It was a very difficult year because the Toyota engine was really far away from the Mercedes and Opel back then and it was a very strong year with Hamilton, di Resta, Sutil, Vettel in his first year.”

Beating Hamilton’s best leads to Mercedes Junior chance
“Alex [the team manager at Midland Junior] arranged for Mercedes to give me a test in F3. I did a test with Manor Motorsport in Hockenheim the day after the last race in 2005 and I was quicker than the pole position from Lewis. I went to HWA and signed a contract with them to become a junior driver with Mercedes together with Paul di Resta driving for Manor in 2006. ASM was the team to beat with di Resta, van der Garde, Kobayashi and Vettel. Then there was Manor with myself, Hirate and Nakajima. Then there was Grosjean, Buemi, so a very strong field. It was a good year. I was lacking some consistency but I finished fourth in the championship.”

Still light at the end of the tunnel
“At the end of the year the idea was to go to DTM [for 2007] and there were two seats available. But then Gary Paffett came back and there was only one seat and this was taken by di Resta. Unfortunately, there was no more space and I was out of Mercedes. I was back in Argentina with nothing to do with no budget. My manager said he wouldn’t invest any more money because there was nothing else. I had some offers to do touring cars in Argentina but I was always seeing the light in the end of the tunnel and I still believed I could reach my goal of Formula One.”

A phone call from England revives the Formula One dream for 2007
“I got a phone call from Barry Walsh, an Irish guy building up a team to race in England in Formula 3. He wanted an experienced driver so I came back to Europe to sign the contract in Paris and then I went straight to Northampton where the Ultimate Motorsport base was going to be. We did Formula 3 in England with the Mygale chassis but it was not a very good car. I did 2007 and part of 2008 with them trying to beat the Dallaras but it was not easy. We became a very nice family with Barry and all his siblings and nephews. Then he promoted me to World Series completely paid by him. He was into the real estate market and was really committed to get a Formula One team and put me there. During 2008 there was the collapse in the market and his business went completely bad. All the possibilities of getting to Formula One with him disappeared.”

One-off drive leads to a Czech mate
“In the end of 2009 there was a car for the last World Series race at Aragón. At the end of the weekend the team was going to be sold to Igor Salaquarda for the ISR team. Filip Salaquarda, his son, was driving for Prema but it was a very bad year for him. On the Monday and Tuesday, they were testing and they asked me if I wanted to stay coaching for Filip. I had no money and a couple of hundred euros was good for me. In the end of the second day Filip finished first and they were very happy. But I went back to Argentina again, the same story.”

Plans to finish high school in Argentina interrupted when Igor Salaquarda offers a lifeline
“I was sitting at home and I was going to start finishing my high school. I was already starting to study but Igor called me one day. He offered me two races [for 2010] and I won one race at Spa. That was the goal achieved for him because he proved his team was good. They had a driver for the next race in Monaco but I went coaching for Filip. The next race was their home event in Brno and it was the race they wanted to do well in. The Wednesday before the weekend Igor called me to his office and said, ‘you are going to drive the car but we need you not to crash the car and if you can please win, it’s very important for us’. I went there and incredibly won both races and Filip was third in one of the races, so it was one of the nicest weekends I can remember. All of a sudden, I was third in the championship, five points behind [Daniel] Ricciardo, and I got a contract for the rest of the season.”

Hard times in Hungary
“We missed two races in Hungary. We were very quick in the free practice but when we went to the scrutineering they could see the chassis were a bit cracked, which is normal because of the kerbs. They wouldn’t allow us to drive with those chassis and they wanted us to buy two new chassis and build up two complete new cars for the day after. Igor thought it was a bit of sabotage against his team because we were a new team and we were doing well. He decided to pull out of the event on the Friday evening and I was completely in tears.”

Silverstone sorrow from pole-bid crash and getting stripped of race win
“With the cars repaired I went back to Hockenheim and I did a first and a third, at Silverstone I won both races but that was the story of the tank tape. I qualified second for that race but I crashed on the final lap trying to go for pole. My car was broken on the front-left arm. In the end of qualifying one of the drivers come to the box because Filip didn’t let him by. He came to the pits shouting and Igor stops him and this driver hits Igor and there was a bit of a fight. The driver was excluded from the weekend and Igor was excluded from the race track. It was a small team, Igor was the team owner, the team manager, the chief mechanic as well. My mechanics desperately tried to fix the car after the crash and closed the bodywork with a piece of tank tape. It was just 10 centimetres of tank tape doing absolutely nothing for the performance. The team from Ricciardo and Vergne, Tech 1, saw the piece of tape and did a protest after I won the race with a completely twisted wheel because we didn’t have time to put the car right. I won against Vergne after a lot of pressure. The problem was we couldn’t contact Igor to make an appeal because Igor was flying already back to Czech Republic. We had to put money for the appeal and we had no one to do that.”

The perfect payback and a cheeky sticky tape podium celebration
“I went to bed very upset and the next day I was determined to get a payback from that and I get to pass Ricciardo in the last lap. I went to the podium with the tank tape on my lips and it was some nice payback for what happened the day before.”

HIGHLIGHTS TO COME IN PART 2 (available from 8 May)

Missing out on World Series title means no Renault Formula One test
No budget to take up offer to join Virgin Racing in Formula One for 2011
USA comes calling with Indy Lights drive…
…but despite twice finishing runner-up there’s no chance to progress to IndyCar
Returning to Argentina and re-setting the goals while never giving up on racing overseas
Impressive WTCC debut at home leads to new career chapter and a WTCR title challenge

Having heard from Norbert Michelisz, Yvan Muller and Tom Coronel in the first three episodes of WTCR Fast Talk, Tiago Monteiro is due to reveal the stories behind his career next week. Click here to listen or follow this link: https://www.fiawtcr.com/wtcr-fast-talk/

Images supplied by Esteban Guerrieri