WRC – Dominguez claims Junior WRC victory on round three in Sardinia

2024 Rally Italia Sardegna – Junior WRC post-event report

A composed Diego Dominguez secured his second career FIA Junior WRC victory with a win at Rally Italia Sardegna, finishing the third round of the series 47.5sec clear of Ali Türkkan.

Dominguez, who was runner-up in last year’s championship, began Sunday with a healthy lead over Türkkan in the M-Sport Poland Ford Fiesta Rally3 Evo category and was able to complete the final four speed tests drama-free.

Dominguez accrued the full 25 points for his championship tally, while a sole Wolf Stage Win on Saturday brought his Sardinia haul to 26 points. FIA Rally Star pilot Max Smart of South Africa claimed his maiden podium 13.2sec behind Türkkan.

Petr Borodin initially threatened to steal the final podium spot from Smart before he overshot a junction on SS3. The Kazakhstani driver was forced to settle for fourth, missing out by just 4.0sec as Norbert Maior and Taylor Gill completed the top six.

A resurgent Romet Jürgenson scored a hat-trick of benchmark times after restarting on Sunday morning, having retired from the lead with a damaged wishbone on Saturday. The Estonian now leads tops the championship standings by 26 points from Dominguez with two rounds remaining.

Dominguez also scored maximum points in WRC3, for which the top six was identical to Junior WRC.