Sergio Fuentes Dominates Tenerife Rally, Secures Third Straight Title
Sergio Fuentes, driving his Skoda Fabia, secured victory at the 51st Isla Tenerife Rally, marking his third consecutive provincial title and solidifying his position as a rising motorsport star.
Tenerife has a new motorsport star! Sergio Fuentes, driving his Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, just had "the best season of his life" by winning the 51st Isla Tenerife Rally.
Fuentes, along with his co-driver Teco Hernández, dominated the race. The duo, representing Domingo Alonso Group and Skoda Canarias, won all but one stage. This victory also secured Fuentes his third straight title in the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Provincial Rally Championship and made him the likely champion of the island competition.
"I knew we had to go all out from the start, and that's what we did," Fuentes said.
When his main competitor, Fernando Cruz, unexpectedly went off the road, Fuentes didn't let up. He knew he couldn't afford any mistakes and had to finish the race with his car in good condition.
The weather made things tricky, with fog and heavy rain, especially in the northern parts of the course. "In the south it was dry, but in the north, there was no visibility and it was raining. It was super complicated," Fuentes explained.
Fuentes and Hernández finished the race more than two minutes ahead of the next team, capping off a fantastic season.
This win means more than just a trophy. It secured Sergio Fuentes' third consecutive provincial title and puts him in second place in the 2025 Canary Islands Asphalt Rally Championship.
Fuentes says his success is due to hard work and learning. "It has been a year of learning about the car, fine-tuning it, adjusting it – a lot of unseen work," he said. He's clearly developed a strong connection with his Skoda. "Everything is difficult, you have to adjust so many things, but when we understand each other, you enjoy it more, and that shows in the times."
Fuentes, who started racing at 27, knows he has to work hard to compete with rivals who started much younger. "That difference in experience has to be countered with work, and we are going to work harder than anyone to improve and try to win everything."
Since entering the scene in 2017, Fuentes has been steadily improving. He's grateful for the support he receives. "I am extremely grateful to the entire Domingo Alonso group, to Skoda Canarias, to Sports & You and to all the people behind the scenes who are not seen. I am sure that I will win them a championship soon," he added.
Earlier this year, Fuentes appealed a decision in the XI Rallye Ciudad de La Laguna, feeling that Enrique Cruz was unfairly given only a 10-second penalty after a section was stopped due to an accident. Fuentes believed this helped Cruz, who had lost more than a minute due to a flat tire before the stoppage. However, his appeal was dismissed after two months.
"It's almost a joke," Fuentes said about the situation. "I don't want to get into that controversy because I received a lot of negativity. People made my life impossible on social media, so I removed myself from it, and now someone else manages it for me. I believe the rules should be the same everywhere. If something is applied one way in the European Championship, I don't understand why it's applied differently in the Canary Islands."