Welsh driver Elfyn Evans alongside co-driver Scott Martin clinched the WRC title after an extraordinary Rally Italia Sardegna event.
Having made his debut in the top flight of the WRC at the 2007 Rally Wales GB, Elfyn Evans is now a champion. The 35-year-old from Dolgellau in North-West Wales has been competing consistently in the WRC since 2014, when he first signed for M-Sport WRT. However, his time at the top of the WRC did not kick off until he moved to Toyota Gazoo Racing in 2020.
Since joining TGR, Evans became a regular title contender but never quite managed it, finishing as a runner up for five of the last six years. Much like the years before, Evans’ 2026 campaign was strong but beset with unfortunate mistakes and issues.
Evans laid out his intentions for 2026 with a strong start to the season, collecting a second place in Monaco and an overall win in Sweden. Unfortunately, due to the nature of rallying, Evans’ blistering start unravelled at the following events in Kenya and Croatia. Despite a commanding start to the Kenyan Safari Rally, Evans suffered a catastrophic suspension failure to his Yaris’ right-rear assembly in phenomenally muddy conditions.
Somewhat fortunately for Evans, the sheer amount of mud present also claimed the cars of his main championship rivals in Oliver Solberg and Sebastien Ogier after both their engines had been swamped, offering Evans a lifeline to stay in the championship fight. At the following round in Croatia, Evans and Solberg looked for a return to form after their luck in Kenya. Within the first stage of the event, just a couple of miles in, Solberg clipped a bank and sent himself into the thick Croatian foliage. Later in the day, Evans also became stranded having overshot a tricky corner in a rare mistake from the Welshman.
For the next three rounds of the 2026 championship, Evans bagged precious points with two podium finishes and his final overall win of the season in Japan. With strong finishes in the remaining rounds, including two more podiums, Evans was in a strong position for the final event of the year held in Sardinia. However, despite his efforts, Solberg had an extraordinary run in the last few events to put himself within touching distance of Evans’ championship lead. With just one stage to go in Sardinia, Solberg just needed to finish ahead of Evans to secure the championship win after Evans and Martin suffered a puncture earlier in the rally.
Solberg sat a few seconds up on Evans and just needed to cross the line, but in an extraordinary turn of events Solberg oversteered slightly on the infamously slippery Sardinian sand and hooked a ‘gravel bank’ or a ‘bush’ which pulled his Toyota Yaris off the road and into a sandy bank. Despite getting his stricken Toyota moving again and finishing the rally, Solberg finished behind Evans thus crowning the Welshman as Britain’s newest WRC champion. “I don’t think it’s quite sunk in yet”, Evans stated following the unprecedented turn of events.
“I feel sorry for Oliver as well — he had an incredible weekend, and I’m sorry for him to lose it so close to the finish there.”
Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin secure their place amongst rallying royalty as he becomes the third British man to secure a WRC title following a 25-year gap, joining the likes of Colin McRae and Richard Burns.