2024 Rally Italia Sardinia – Junior WRC Post-Event Report
A composed Diego Dominguez won the Rally of Sardinia, Italy to secure his second FIA Junior WRC victory, finishing round three of the series 47.5 seconds ahead of Ali Türkkan.
Dominguez, who finished runner-up in last year’s championship, started with a good lead over Türkkan in the M-Sport Poland Ford Fiesta Rally3 Evo category on Sunday and was able to complete the last four speed tests without drama.
Dominguez has 25 points overall in the championship tally, with his Wolf Stage win on Saturday taking him to 26 points in Sardinia. South African FIA Rally star pilot Max Smart took his first podium, 13.2 seconds behind Türkkan.
Petr Borodin initially threatened to steal Smart’s final podium spot before passing the crossing in SS3. The Kazakh driver had to settle for fourth place, just 4.0 seconds off the mark, with Norbert Maior and Taylor Gill completing the top six.
A resurgent Romet Jurgenson scored a hat-trick of benchmark times after the restart on Sunday morning, before falling out of the lead on Saturday with a damaged wishbone. The Estonian currently leads the championship standings, 26 points ahead of Dominguez with two rounds remaining.
Dominguez also achieved the highest score in WRC3, with the top six placings identical to those in Junior WRC.
