FIA Rally Star presents its drivers for 2025

Launched at the beginning of 2020, the FIA ​​Rally Star operation will see a new phase next year. While Romet Jürgenson will compete in WRC2 in a Ford Fiesta Rally2, Max Smart and Taylor Gill will return to their Fiesta Rally3 in JWRC.

Published on 01/11/2024 à 10:04

Loïc ROCCI

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FIA Rally Star presents its drivers for 2025

FIA Rally Star drivers will compete in two categories next year (Photo: FIA)

Presented in February 2020, the major operation to detect new talents deployed by the FIA ​​was a huge success when it was set up. Applications to the ASNs poured in and the selection method proved its effectiveness with Romet Jürgenson's victory this year in the JWRC championship, which was his debut in this category.

Crowned in Junior, the Estonian has been awarded the 4 rounds of the WRC2 2025 on a Ford Fiesta Rally2 that were at stake. The FIA ​​will allow him to add two more. In Greece, at the time of his title, the 24-year-old Rally Star driver was quite confident about the possibility of finding the budget to contest one more round which would be equivalent to a full championship. It's really great to know that we have at least 6 races on the schedule next year., Jürgenson rejoiced. I can’t thank the FIA ​​enough. I’m doing my best to add a few events with my own sponsors, but the overall goal is to get the most out of the year in terms of learning and developing with Rally2. For me, everything will be new: the category, the car, the speed, the events… Everything is different, but I always want to show my potential at some point during the year, so it’s not just about gaining experience, but also showing my speed, which is really important for the rest of my career. "While Jürgenson's programme is not yet known, he has already managed to arrange participation in the Saaremaa Rally at the beginning of October (11-12/10) where he was able to display his skills in a Toyota Yaris Rally2 against Ken Torn who is a reference in Estonia. Leader during two special stages, Romet had to stop to change a wheel and the operation dragged on condemning him to 11e rank.

Among his three classmates, only two will continue the adventure in 2025. As soon as the final meeting in Lamia in Greece was over, the selection was already quite obvious given the results obtained during the 2024 Junior rounds. Australian Taylor Gill (21 years old) and South African Max Smart (22 years old) were selected and they will try to follow in Jürgenson's footsteps during the 5 rallies of the calendar that was recently presented (Sweden, Portugal, Acropolis, Filande, Central Europe). For his part, Peruvian José Caparo (27 years old) was not kept. While this program will enter its final phase next year, the FIA ​​has not yet revealed whether the Rally Star will have a new version in the years to come. Ideas are on the table, but nothing has been decided.

Loïc ROCCI

Journalist specializing in rallying past, present and future... and with a southern accent

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