Richard Millener doesn't want Romet Jürgenson to follow the same trajectory as Ott Tänak, Elfyn Evans and Adrien Fourmaux
Photography by M-Sport
Words by Alasdair Lindsay & Colin Clark
M-Sport is taking a cautious approach to promoting its prodigious talent Romet Jürgenson, suggesting a promotion to its main World Rally Championship lineup for 2026 is unlikely.
Jūrgenson scored a European Rally Championship podium on debut at Rali Ceredigion and then won in the Spanish Superchampionship at his first attempt during a three-week purple patch – the latter win secured by over a minute over series leader Javier Pardo. Last week he also finished a fine fourth in the ERC finale at Croatia, winning a stage on Saturday.
The reigning Junior WRC champion was identified as a potential star driver of the future through the FIA Rally Star program. M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson was one of the judges at the European final, where Jürgenson was selected as the winner.
After winning the Junior WRC title last year Jürgenson has moved up to WRC2, where he’s achieved a best result of fifth place in both Sardinia and Estonia with an M-Sport-run Ford Fiesta Rally2.
“Malcolm is a huge believer in Romet,” M-Sport team principal Richard Millener told DirtFish. “It was really exciting to see his pace on such inexperience, especially on Tarmac in Wales.”
Jürgenson impressed a lot of people with his performance at ERC Rali Ceredigion last month
But Millener is cautious about the prospect of putting him in a Ford Puma Rally1 as early as next season. Ott Tänak, Elfyn Evans and Adrien Fourmaux were all promoted to the top level, sent back down to rallying’s second tier and had to fight their way back to the top for a second time.
When asked about Jürgenson’s prospects of joining M-Sport’s Rally1 lineup next season, Millener replied: “You never say never with anyone, but personally for me right now, I would be very cautious about putting too much pressure on someone like that so quickly.
“We’ve seen it, but we have done it before and had to bring people back [to Rally2] again. And they learned some good lessons in that point.”
There are also economic considerations: M-Sport’s business model is built on selling cars to customers. Much like Toyota with Oliver Solberg piloting a GR Yaris Rally2 and Yohan Rossel at the wheel of a works-backed Citroën C3 Rally2, it wants a fast driver showing what the Fiesta Rally2 can do against its class rivals.
“From a business perspective, Rally2 is so important for M-Sport and the more it wins, the better it is for the business that helps run this team,” said Millener.
M-Sport needs a quality driver to showcase the Fiesta Rally2 in WRC2 and the ERC
“We saw it with Adrien when he had a good run of events, we had good reaction from customers on cars and so we want to continue that. Again, there’s a balance there, but you don’t want to stunt or pull back Romet’s progression. But I still think it’s very early in his career.”
So what does Jürgenson need to do to be considered for M-Sport’s top-level lineup in the future?
“At the moment, I would like to see him win some more Rally2 events, maybe some WRC2 events and then let’s go sensibly,” Millener outlined. “But it’s great that so many people are looking and saw his performance. That’s the number one thing: he’s proven what he’s capable of already so early in his career.”
M-Sport has no drivers confirmed for is Rally1 lineup in 2026. Jürgenson’s participation in WRC2 this season has been funded by the FIA Rally Star initiative but this runs out at the end of 2025; he must find budget from elsewhere to continue into next season.
Words:Alasdair Lindsay
Tags: M-Sport, Richard Millener, Romet Jürgenson, WRC, WRC 2026
Publish Date October 7, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/09/VMyGmmDF-ERC_WAL_25_ATMOSPHERE_959-780x520.jpg October 7, 2025
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