It all began with a glance, a look between two people which would start the career of one of the WRC’s professional co-drivers. His parents met at a rally and there began the story which would see a young man who was passionate about his sport, pursue and ultimately achieve accolades at the highest echelon of the sport, the FIA World Rally Championship.   It was 1975 when his father went to spectate at Boules de spa, watching with awe as ‘The Stig’ (Stig Blomqvist, who went onto to become the 1984 WRC champion), blasted through the stages. But it wasn’t just Stig that caught his attention, Collette was also spectating and it was along the special stage at Awan-Aywaille where they met. The relationship resulted in marriage in 1979 and bouncing baby Nicolas Gilsoul followed in 1982. With such an auspicious start it was only natural that Nico would follow the rally path…

Nico’s dad was part of the local motorsport association, Ecurie Le Sanglier and was highly active in organising events and was passionate about the sport of rally. He dedicated much of his time and was well known and respected for the work he did. Whilst growing up Nico attended many events with his father and eventually began to work alongside him. Although his father loved rallying, his motivation was never to be within the car, he didn’t compete as a driver, which Nico couldn’t quite grasp…

He began spectating with his father at first before beginning to help him in his work organising events. At twelve years old he began to compete on road rallies which were 60 kilometres in length, learning how to read road books; tulips and maps. The passion for his future would start here, there seems to be no question on which side of the car Nico wanted to be seated.