Elfyn Evans takes the World Rally title by five points after Solberg crashes late

Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin won the 2026 World Rally Championship on the last stage of Rally Italia Sardegna, finishing the season on 243 points to Oliver Solberg's 238. Solberg, his Toyota team-mate, still won the rally. He crashed two corners from the end of the final stage, got back on the road, and crossed the line 8.9 seconds behind Evans on that stage. The gap was enough to hand Evans the title. Sami Pajari, also Toyota, closed the year on 237, one point behind Solberg and six behind Evans.

The title is the first for a Welsh driver, and the first for a British driver since Richard Burns in 2001. Colin McRae, in 1995, is the other name on that short list. Martin is the first English co-driver to win the championship, after David Richards, Derek Ringer, Robert Reid and Phil Mills. Evans had finished second in five of the previous six seasons. He won two of the thirteen rounds in 2026. The championship went to the man who did not win the last rally.

Solberg, 25, needed to beat Evans on the final stage by enough to collect the bonuses that would have passed him. He was on course to do it. The crash came with a few hundred metres left. He kept the rally win: his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 finished in 3 hours 24 minutes 57.0 seconds. Sébastien Ogier was second, 57.6 seconds back, with Vincent Landais. Pajari and Marko Salminen were third, at 1 minute 37.4. Evans and Martin were fifth, 4 minutes 48.1 behind Solberg. Fifth on the event, first on the year.

Evans said afterwards that it had not sunk in, and that he had been sure it was over. He said he felt for Solberg, who had had an exceptional weekend. The intra-team fight is the awkward part of the result. Toyota Gazoo Racing locked out the top three in the drivers' standings, with Ogier fourth on 189. A team that brings three cars to a finale can decide a title by the order it asks its drivers to hold. Sunday's crash removed the need for that conversation. Solberg was ahead, and then he was not.

The points table under them shows how tight the year was, and how Toyota-shaped. Adrien Fourmaux of Hyundai sits fifth on 183. Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota, is on 175. Thierry Neuville is further back on 134. Hayden Paddon, Josh McErlean and Esapekka Lappi fill the rest of the top ten, on 38, 35 and 33. A title decided by five points, with third place one point further back, is a season in which a single stage time on the last afternoon moved three careers.

Sardinia's gravel is a known breaker of late leads. A car that has survived thirteen rounds can still go off two corners from home, and the championship can go with it. Solberg's rally win is intact. His title is not. Evans's two round wins were not enough, on their own, to explain 243 points. The consistency that kept him second so often finally had a rival mistake at the only moment a mistake could not be repaired.

The open question is the 2027 order inside Toyota. Solberg is 25, five points short, and the rally winner. Evans is champion after five second places and one late crash that was not his. Pajari is a point behind Solberg. The team has three drivers who can win the next one, and a finale that showed it will not separate them until the last stage.