2026 WRC Rally Sardinia Report: Evans does it at last!
Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin are finally on top of the World…
Words by James Downie for Rally Media UK, Images supplied courtesy of Michael Cramp/MJC Media.
Elfyn Evans is finally the World Rally Champion - in the most dramatic Hollywood style circumstances imaginable. After carrying the burden of home expectation for many years, overshadowed by the legacies of Colin McRae and Richard Burns, seemingly always the road sweeper on so many gravel rallies…not to mention being WRC runner up on no less than 5 occasions - all of these ghosts were finally laid to rest in Sardinia by the 37 year old from Dolgellau and co-driver Scott Martin.
But that only tells about 1% of this epic story. How do you go about writing a retrospective report of a rally who’s sensational conclusion was played out in front of a live audience across the world, seen from every conceivable angle, reported and discussed and AI-memed ever since by motorsport media and fans of all kinds and across all platforms?
The answer is: with great difficulty, and there’s probably no point doing a report in the usual way but the 2026 Rally Sardinia had so many twists and turns that its’ story is worth trying to tell.
Everyone knows that the young Swedish thoroughbred Oliver Solberg with Britains’ Eliott Edmondson alongside put in a brilliant performance to come from nowhere in the Championship, to be within 4 corners of snatching the title from Elfyn on the Wolf Power Stage, before a tiny error on the badly rutted surface put his Yaris into the undergrowth for 15 seconds. Oliver of course still won the rally but lost the Power Stage points that would have made him World Champion. It will take him a long time to process and get over it, but it’s pretty clear his time is going to come soon as long as he can lock the trauma away quickly.
Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson performed brilliantly in Sardinia and were so close to stealing the World Championship.
Elfyn Evans has been the exact opposite of all that this season. He learned a long time ago that you don’t necessarily have to be the fastest to win in the WRC, you just need to be consistently amongst the fastest and take your chances when they come. He has given a masterclass of rally and championship management in 2026 and repeatedly shown his ability to grind the best possible outcomes from the rallies where conditions and luck were against him. He has known when to attack and when the rewards were not worth the gamble. The greatest drivers understand that management is just as important in rallying at this level as speed.
Sardinia was not originally supposed to be the final round of the 2026 WRC but the ongoing situation in the Middle East meant that the round in Saudi Arabia that was planned for November had to be pulled. Evans led the Championship by 17 points going into Sardinia from Finlands Sami Pajari, winner in Estonia, Finland and Paraguay. Solberg was 3rd, 21 points adrift of Evans, with a win on the last round in Chile keeping him just about in the hunt. All three could still win the title, but Evans only needed 19 points to be confirmed as champion, even if Pajari or Solberg scored a maximum.
Sardinia has always been one of the toughest of the European rounds, with the heat, dust and sandy but rough surfaces on the stages well known for causing grip and puncture problems. Although Hyundai have been badly beaten in this year’s WRC, they have a great record in Sardinia, and have won 7 times in the last 10 years on the Italian Island. Their lead driver, 2024 World Champion Thierry Neuville has won 3 of these, and the veteran Spaniard Dani Sordo, who this year was in their third car had won 2 of them, and along with their younger French team mate Adrien Fourmaux, they went in with a very strong chance of winning again, which was good for Elfyn Evans.
Yet again Elfyn and Scott Martin would start with an unfavourable road position. As such, their own chances of an outright win in Sardinia were remote, so it would be handy if others could take points off their Championship rivals.
Solberg won the opening Super Special on Thursday, but a puncture early on Friday soon put him down to 7th as sure enough, the Hyundai’s hit the front. After SS3 Fourmaux led and Neuville was 2nd although a puncture on Sordo’s car put him out of the reckoning. Pajari was 3rd and best of the Toyotas and title contenders early on, with the swiftly recovering Solberg back up to 4th. Road sweeper Evans was 5th but doing what he needed to do at the moment. Josh McErlean was the best of the M-Sport Pumas in 7th. All the top drivers complained about the roughness, with rocks everywhere, but also the lack of grip as the wheel spinning cars dug into the surface…understeering and then having their power sapped by the sand.
Adrien Fourreaux and Alex Coria once again led on the opening day, but were dogged by punctures throughout and a maiden WRC win continues to elude them.
Fourmaux continued to lead into the afternoon, with Solberg getting past Pajari to hold 3rd, and Evans unable to stop Sebastien Ogier taking 5th, but he remained ahead of Katsuta in the other Toyota, and all the M-Sport cars. On the final stage of the day Neuville upped his pace and snatched the lead with a fastest time, having held back to preserve his tyres on the previous ones. Despite losing Sordo it had been a good day for Hyundai. They ended it holding 1st and 2nd positions but Solberg was 3rd and within striking distance. Ogier had climbed to 4th now with Pajari slipping down the order. Evans remained 6th overnight.
Positions at End of Friday
1 Neuville/Wytaeghe Hyundai 1.25.04.9
2 Fourmaux/Coria Hyundai 1.25.05.3
3 Solberg/Edmondson Toyota 1.25.17.2
4 Ogier/Landais Toyota 1.25.42.3
5 Pajari/Salminen Toyota 1.25.45.1
6 Evans/Martin Toyota 1.26.13.2
Saturday was Solbergs day. Fourmaux punctured on the opening stage and dropped a minute, slipping from 2nd to 5th, then several fastest times by Solberg saw him leapfrog Neuville to grab the lead. On SS11 the Belgian crashed out leaving the Swede with a very comfortable lead of 37 seconds from Ogier, who was just staying out of trouble. Evans had moved up to 5th, admitting that he was unable to catch anyone in front, and just had to stay clean now. It wasn’t the worst tactic given the chaos that was prevailing as usual in Sardinia.
Road position meant Sami Pajari and Markko Salminen were never able to trouble the leaders in Sardinia but claimed 3rd in the rally and 3rd in the championship, just 6 points adrift of Evans.
At that point Martin Sesks and Renars Francis in the M-Sport Puma became the next casualty, with broken power steering on a road section, whilst yet another puncture dropped Fourmaux right back again. Elfyn was up to 4th and McErlean and Eion Tracy were up to 6th in the highest placed Puma, despite going off.
On the final stage of the leg Evans again slipped behind Formaux, McErlean stopped twice with mechanical issues dropped well out of the top 10. Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne were now the leading Puma in 7th after a shocker of a day for M-Sport. Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnstone were promoted into the top 6 for the first time.
Solberg was happy with his own performance but knew it was not going to be enough to take the title if things stayed as they were. The retirements had meant that realistically there weren’t enough crews left who were quick enough to push Evans far enough down the order. As he put it: “I’m doing everything I can but the others don’t”.
Pajari was in a similar predicament. His road position meant he was unable to realistically improve on his 3rd place. The only hope Solberg and Pajari would have in the race for the title was for everything to go for them and everything to go against Evans with the Super Sunday and Power Stage points.
Positions at end of Saturday
1 Solberg/Edmondson Toyota 2h42m33.2s
2 Ogier/Landais Toyota +33.6s
3 Pajari/Salminen Toyota +1m39.9s
4 Fourmaux/Coria Hyundai +2.32.0
5 Evans/Martin +2.38.4
6 Katsuta/Johstone +5.32.9
Thierry Neuville and Martin Wydaeghe led briefly before crashing out, but they ended the season on a high with a power stage win.
Solberg needed the rally win, but also need to be scoring maximum Super Sunday and Power Stage Points. Elfyns 5th place was safe, but he still needed a decent Sunday and Power Stage score to be safe, and with all the retired Rally1 competitors back out to compete on the final day, there was still a chance of the Welshman being pushed out of these points if he hit trouble. And unbelievably, on the penultimate stage, he did hit trouble. A puncture after only 3 of the 15 miles meant Elfyn and Scott had to stop and change the wheel, costing them 2 minutes. Although they remained 5th overall, crucially, they had lost Super Sunday points, and that had left the door slightly ajar for Solberg and Edmondson.
If Solberg beat Evans on the Wolf Power Stage, the World Championship could now be snatched. It sounded simple, but it obviously wasn’t - there were plenty of crews attacking the stage with nothing to lose, it had already been used once and the surface was deteriorating badly, and Solberg would have the worst of the road conditions as the final Rally1 car to tackle it.
Sebastien Ogier and Vincent Landais stayed out of the Championship fight but still ended with second overall amidst the chaos.
With nothing at all to lose, Neuville set a very imposing time early on in the proceedings and the best efforts of Pajari and Evans couldn’t match it. Evans reached the stage finish thinking the game was up. “I’m pretty sure it won’t be enough” he told interviewers.
Solberg was into the stage. Elfyn and Scott’s time was indeed beatable, but on the badly cut up and rutted surface Oliver and Elliott would have to take big risks and get lucky. Despite a few streaky moments when the car kicked out of line in the ruts, they appeared to be on course. As they entered the final sector they were almost 2 seconds up, but with no way of knowing this at the time they couldn’t back off. They were through the worst part of the stage and within 4 corners of taking the 2026 WRC title…
…And we all know the rest…
All of Oliver’s Power Stage Points went up in the dust as he spend that 15 seconds in the undergrowth. He got back on and won the rally by nearly a minute but…well…that was irrelevant now.
The Welsh were already singing…
The man from Dolgellau had become Britain’s 3rd World Rally Champion, and it was thoroughly deserved after years of getting so close. Nobody could say that he hadn’t earned that piece of luck at the end. One can’t help but have some sympathy for Solberg but he’s got many seasons ahead of him and bags of talent with which to make amends. At almost 38 years of age, and with the next generation already making it’s mark, Elfyn might not get many other chances to be champion, so it was just a really nice thing to see him get over that line at long last.
Llongyfarchiadau Elfyn and Scott!
Final Results
1 Oliver Solberg / Elliott Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 3:24:57.0
2 Sébastien Ogier / Vincent Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +57.6s
3 Sami Pajari / Marko Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:37.4
4 Adrien Fourmaux / Alexandre Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:38.6
5 Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +4:48.1
6 Takamoto Katsuta / Aaron Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +6:02.4
7 Jon Armstrong / Shane Byrne Ford Puma Rally1 +7:32.2
8 Roope Korhonen / Anssi Viinikka Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 +12:10.4
9 Robert Virves / Jakko Viilo Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 +12:11.1
10 Gus Greensmith / Jonas Andersson Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 +13:02.2
Final Drivers' Championship Standings in 2026 WRC
1 Elfyn Evans 243 Points
2 Oliver Solberg 238
3 Sami Pajari 237
4 Sebastien Ohier 189
5 Adrien Fourmaux 183
6 Takamoto Katsuta 175
7 Thierry Neuville 134
8 Hayden Paddon 38
9 Joshua McErlean 34
10 Esapekka Lappi 33
