After spotting an advert for the FIA Rally Star talent search programme while in the Estonian Military, Romet Jurgenson is now preparing for a career in the World Rally Championship.
Three years on from that moment when the advert made him abruptly stop scrolling on his phone, the 24-year-old has now repaid the faith the FIA Rally Star Programme put in him by lifting the Junior WRC title at last weekend’s Acropolis Rally. The triumph arrived a year ahead of the FIA’s predicted timeline for the initiative.
Jurgenson and co-driver Siim Oja were one of four crews selected by the FIA Rally Star jury to compete in a fully funded season in the JWRC, driving a Ford Fiesta Rally3, having earned selection by winning the European final of the talent search competition.
The jury at the final in Germany included current WRC points leader Thierry Neuville, FIA deputy president Robert Reid, WRC Commission president Pernilla Solberg, M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson and Pirelli’s Terenzio Testoni. Jurgenson qualified for the final through the FIA Rally Star’s eSports competition in 2021.
Jurgenson and Oja were one of six finalist pairings which then conducted a funded training season featuring six European rallies last year, before the group was whittled down to four to contest this year’s five-round Junior WRC. The campaign tested their skills to the limit on Sweden’s snow-covered stages, Croatia’s narrow asphalt roads, Sardinia’s rough gravel, Finland’s fast gravel roads and the attritional Acropolis Rally Greece.
For Jurgenson and Siim, a second-place finish on JWRC debut competing in Sweden signalled intentions of a title push. That was made clear with victory in Croatia before incidents in Sardinia and Finland hampered their momentum.
However, a second-place finish in the double points scoring finale in Greece sealed the title that sees Jurgenson join the likes of WRC stars Sebastien Ogier (2008), Dani Sordo (2005), Craig Breen (2011) and Elfyn Evans (2012) as a Junior WRC champion.
Jurgenson’s success has come in three fewer rally starts than when Ogier claimed his crown.
“It’s difficult to look back, three years ago when I first saw this programme come to life I was thinking this is my chance and now there years moving forward we are champions. It is weird and it so nice at the same time, but I am so happy," Jurgenson told Autosport.
“To be honest, I think we discussed even before the season that if everything goes right, it might be possible. But after Sweden, it was confirmed that we have the speed and after Croatia, it was looking really good. But then in Sardinia and Finland, we really hit quite some trouble in there.
"Now, fortunately, here, everything went went well.”
Reid, who was in Greece to watch the crowning of the new JWRC champion, added: “Having formed part of jury that picked Romet as the winner of FIA Rally Star European Final, it was with a sense of pride that I watched him and Siim become FIA Junior WRC champions for 2024.
“It was especially significant because Romet made his way at the start through the eSports selections with no driving experience in a rally car. I was also privileged to have followed his progress and development over the past 18 months with his level of commitment and determination really impressive."
This is just the start of the journey for the Estonian with Jurgenson now set to graduate to the WRC’s second tier, WRC2, next season with six rounds fully funded by the FIA as a prize for winning the JWRC title.
The 24-year-old will pilot a Ford Fiesta Rally2 car where he will go head-to-head with the best drivers hoping to catch the eye of Rally1 manufacturers.
“Actually, I'm not thinking about this too much. I focused on this year, and now, as you say, it really is something we will do next year, and I'm really happy about it, obviously,” he said.
“But now we have to discuss with the FIA what is possible and how much we do it. It is exciting. It’s the next step, and we can prove ourselves to a lot of fast drivers.”
Jurgenson’s rapid success has equally validated the FIA Rally Star concept, the brainchild of FIA’s Cross-Country and Regional Rally Championships and former FFSA communications expert Jerome Roussel.
The scheme launched in 2021 and shares the core principles of the famous Rally Jeunes slalom challenge initiative in France that can lay claim to providing the first step on the rally ladder for WRC legends Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier.
In total almost 7000 applied before the most promising candidates were selected to take part in six, three-day regional finals split into Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and a final dedicated to female drivers.
“I remember when the [jury] picked Romet they said at the final his motivation was beyond the others. He came alone he had no support and he has never driven a cross kart and he was able to match the times of guys doing cross kart every weekend,” Roussel told Autosport/Motorsport.com.
“He had this fire inside of him and that is what convinced the jury to give him his chance. They knew that if he wasn’t picked up his career would stop basically and they were right as since then he has never disappointed us. He already has many capabilities so that is why I am happy to see him winning because for me he can show more at the next level.
“The greatest thing for me is that young people have that dream to become a rally driver can see that this can happen. You don’t need to have a rich dad to do it. It happened to Loeb, and Ogier and now it is happening to Romet.
“Romet had nothing and I am really pleased to see that hard work and the necessary support as we don’t have crazy money, we do only one day of testing before each Junior WRC event, but we have proved to any young rally driver that this is possible. That was the starting point for Rally Star, it was to create opportunities.”
While Jurgenson may have won the JWRC title one year into a two-year plan, the FIA Rally Star initiative will continue next year with two of the remaining three crews to receive funding to compete in the JWRC in the hope of unearthing more future WRC stars.
Australian duo Taylor Gill and Daniel Brkic finished fourth in the JWRC standing after taking a win in Finland and a second in Croatia and were firmly in the title fight throughout.
South African’s Max Smart and his British co-driver Cameron Fair claimed a podium in Sardinia on their way to seventh in the standings shared with fellow Rally Star crew Peru’s Jose Abbot Caparo and his Mexican co-drive Esther Gutiérrez.
