Twelve months ago the prospect of a career in the World Rally Championship was a pipe dream for a quartet of youngsters from all four corners of the globe. But now these inexperienced drivers are daring to turn their dreams into reality thanks to the FIA Rally Star initiative.
The brainchild of Jerome Roussel, one of the figures that worked on the Rallye Jeunes programme that discovered the likes of WRC legends Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier, Rally Star is designed to unearth the champions of tomorrow and offer a chance to those who perhaps would never have a shot at competing in rallying.
Earlier this month, four aspiring drivers – some of whom had given up on a rallying career – uncovered by the scheme took the first step on the WRC ladder by competing in the opening round of the Junior WRC on Rally Sweden. Not only did they compete on the same stages as the likes of Kalle Rovanpera and Ott Tanak, they turned heads in the process.
There have been talent-finding initiatives in rallying before; think of the Pirelli Star Driver and WRC Academy that helped develop Tanak, Hayden Paddon and the late Craig Breen more than 10 years ago. But the new FIA Rally Star initiative has taken this idea to the next level, finding candidates aged 17-26 that will take advantage of a fully funded four-year programme (including two JWRC campaigns) driving an M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally3 car. Should one of the drivers win the JWRC title, they will receive a funded programme in WRC2 in 2026.
A global search that featured 7,000 hopefuls has resulted in four pairings Romet Jurgenson/Oja Siim [Estonia], Taylor Gill/Daniel Brkic [Australia], Max Smart/Cameron Fair [South Africa/Great Britain] and Jose Abito Caparo/Esther Gutierrez [Peru/Spain], each of them receiving a golden opportunity to forge a career in the WRC. The quartet were whittled down from a group of six that contested last year’s six-rally training season, conducted to prepare them for the rigours of the five-round Junior WRC season that began on the snow and ice of Sweden.
For Smart, the challenge was enormous given this was just the former motocross rider’s seventh rally event and the first time he’d ever seen snow and ice. This, on top of the opportunity to compete in a WRC event, was not lost on the 21-year-old South African either.
“It was like stepping into a complete foreign world,” Smart tells Motorsport.com. “When I started walking around it was the most slippery thing ever. I have never experienced that before, it was mad.
“Honestly it was incredible. I had to pinch myself. You are on a road section and you drive past Thierry Neuville or one of the WRC boys and then you watch them drive the stage on Rally.TV on your phone before you go into the stage. This is something you normally watch on your couch at home. It is just incredible, I was blown away.”
Each of the drivers have their own unique stories. Jurgenson saw the advert for the FIA Rally Star programme while participating in national military service. The Estonian qualified through the Rally Star’s Esports competition held during the COVID-19 pandemic and now finds himself competing on the biggest of stages.
"On the Friday me and Taylor were leading JWRC at some point, which is really nice to see, and for the FIA to see that this programme is working" Romet Jurgenson
“It is crazy, even before seeing this programme I was afraid to even dream anymore,” Jurgenson confides to Motorsport.com. “I had thrown away this dream already and now being part of it is difficult to now appreciate it because the stress and all the concentration you have is so big. After the events you realise what a great opportunity I have.”
Gill is perhaps the most established rally driver of the four, having competed in the Australian Rally Championship. But reaching the Junior WRC was always a level out of reach for the 20-year-old, who becomes the first Aussie to contest JWRC for more than 10 years.
“I remember being back home in Australia and having documents saved on my computer from sitting in school and writing about the JWRC and how cool it would be to do, and how much it might cost and the unrealistic figures I needed to pull together,” says Gill, who has now relocated from Australia to Finland to pursue this dream. “To be able to do it with such a well-run programme with the FIA its hugely surreal.”
For former national karting champion Caparo, the opportunity simply means “everything” to be representing Peru on the world stage.
“For me it is everything, it is only five rallies but a lot of historic rallies,” he tells Motorsport.com. “It is amazing to be racing alongside the big drivers and I’m so grateful for everything the programme has provided. All I can do to say thanks is to do things correctly.”
Caparo hits the nail on the head. The training has now been completed and now it is time to grab this unique potentially life-changing opportunity with both hands. It has been some journey for these drivers to reach the Junior WRC, but this is just the first step on a long road that this foursome hope will result in competing at the very top of the WRC.
Rally Sweden provided the first litmus test for the FIA Rally Star programme. Had it selected the right candidates and did all the preparation work pay off? The early indications suggest it’s a firm yes to both questions. Three of the four drivers left Rally Sweden finishing inside the top 10 from a record 19-car JWRC field, which only adds to the achievements of this group of fledgling talents that the Rally Star programme is cultivating.
Leading the line was Jurgenson, who finished an impressive second in the JWRC class 48.9s behind winner Mille Johansson, marking him out already as an early title contender. The Estonian had been in a tussle with Gill, who led the class on Friday morning before suffering a double puncture on stage seven.
“We knew that if we did a clean event in Sweden you can easily be in the top five and that was my objective,” says Jurgenson. “Even in the top category Sweden showed this time that it is such a tricky event and a lot can happen and it was the same in JWRC as well. Together with my speed and consistency it played out really well.
“What I really enjoyed is that all of us [FIA Rally Star drivers] showed that it is a nice programme. On the Friday me and Taylor were leading JWRC at some point, which is really nice to see, and for the FIA to see that this programme is working.”
Gill, also competing in his first snow rally, managed to recover from the costly tyre drama to finish the event eighth in class. Although initially bewildered by the speeds that can be achieved on snow, the Australian’s pace certainly highlighted his potential to be in the title battle. But Gill was quick to highlight that without the training put in place by the programme, it would have made this achievement highly unlikely.
“Four drivers led the rally across the weekend and we were one of them, so that is a positive to take away,” states Gill. “But it is hard to not be disappointed with overall results because if you take that one stage out of the equation then we should be on the podium. Having never done a snow rally and to hold our own against some quick young guys, it was pretty surreal.
“You walk around the service park and you can barely stand up, but when you get in the car you have more grip than on gravel. It is super wrong in a sense, but it was such a cool challenge. If we hadn’t had done the training season last year, Sweden would have been a disaster for the Rally Star crews. The training last year was so crucial for all of us. We had mixed results, but it would have been a different story without the training.”
Heading into Sweden against drivers with 70 events in the books meant Smart was already at a disadvantage. However, the winner of Rally Star’s African regional final showcased the biggest improvement across the event. Starting by setting times around the fringes of the top 10, Smart ended the rally with the second fastest time in class on the rally ending Power Stage to claim 10th, the final points paying position in the JWRC.
“I think that it went super well,” says Smart. “Even after our pre-event testing I was feeling that I wasn’t comfortable. I was going to make it work but I wasn’t speaking the same language as the car. In the beginning I was thinking maybe snow is not for me. I was just trying to keep it clean and build up stage by stage. I really impressed myself with some of the times I set as well.”
"When you are looking to develop some drivers, you need a very good competition because only the competition will force you to go outside of your comfort zone and improve" Jerome Roussel
The challenge awaiting the fourth Rally Star pairing of Caparo and Guttierez was perhaps the greatest. Not only were they competing on snow for the first time, but this event was the duo’s first as driver and co-driver. The pair managed to quickly gel and ran as high as sixth in class before a collision with Sweden’s infamous snowbanks damaged the Fiesta’s cooling package, resulting in an early retirement.
“I’m proud,” reflects Caparo. “We gained a lot of experience and it was the first rally with my new co-driver and there was a lot of things to learn. It is not only exciting but it is very competitive. We have to take it seriously. The main thing is to gain that experience again.”
It's early days for these aspiring young drivers as they take a first step onto the WRC ladder but after one of five rounds, Rally Star brainchild Roussel cut a proud figure in the service park. All four drivers showcased their potential against the toughest JWRC field in years, which will only fast track their personal development. The Rally Star programme on paper is an ambitious project and huge investment from the FIA, but Sweden provided the first true indicator that the initiative could unearth a future WRC star.
“It shows that the whole process from the regional finals and the jury selecting the winners, the training we did last year and the driver choice for this year, and these results [in Sweden] we can be confident we made a good choice,” Roussel beams.
“These results are the result of intense preparation from the crews. I’m really happy with their attitudes, commitment and willingness to explore every detail to improve. This was part of the result. It shows they are taking it very seriously as they have a unique opportunity.
“We are on the right way but we have done only one rally out of five, so we must keep pushing and improving in every area. When you are looking to develop some drivers, you need a very good competition because only the competition will force you to go outside of your comfort zone and improve. To have such a big field in JWRC is positive.
“The [drivers] have a serious approach but I also like the fresh attitude they bring. They all have their own stories and they all bring something quite new to rallying, and that was our very first idea. Rallying is maybe too European and we must do something to bring new faces and new stories from more countries to make the sport more global. I hope this will help young South Africans or Peruvians to get interested in WRC and follow the sport.”
Sweden provided a glimpse of perhaps the WRC’s stars of tomorrow, but the journey has only just begun. Croatia’s asphalt provides the next challenge in April.
