Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin secured their first FIA World Rally Championship titles after a final-stage contest with Toyota teammates Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson at Rally Italia Sardegna.
Solberg won the season-ending rally but lost his chance to take the championship when he slid into the sand within the closing corners of the 7.10-kilometer Sassari–Argentiera Power Stage. The results remain subject to FIA confirmation.
Final stage decides the championship
Evans and Solberg reached the Power Stage with the title still undecided after Evans suffered a front-right puncture on the preceding Osilo–Tergu test. He stopped to change the wheel, losing the opportunity to score Super Sunday points and leaving the two Toyota crews in a direct fight in the finale.
Evans completed the Power Stage first. Solberg then moved 1.9 seconds ahead of the Welshman's stage time with little more than one kilometer remaining, according to the WRC's official report.
Solberg went wide and entered the sand a few corners from the finish. He recovered and completed the stage, but the time loss was enough for Evans and Martin to secure the drivers' and co-drivers' championships.
“I don’t think it’s quite sunk in yet,” Evans said. “I mean, I was quite sure that it was over. I didn't drive the best stage. I threw everything at it, but it wasn't clean.”
Evans also acknowledged Solberg's performance and thanked those who had supported his career, including Martin.
Solberg converts lead into rally victory
Solberg and Edmondson won Rally Italia Sardegna by 57.6 seconds over Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais. Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen finished third, completing an all-Toyota podium.
Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria placed fourth, with Evans and Martin fifth. Takamoto Katsuta and Jon Armstrong completed the leading Rally1 finishers.
Solberg had begun Sunday with a 33.6-second rally lead and was six championship points behind Evans. He had led the event since Saturday morning after opening the weekend by setting the fastest shakedown time and winning Thursday evening's first stage.
Motorsport.com quoted Solberg as saying “It hurts a lot” after his title bid ended. His rally victory nevertheless completed a weekend in which he led after Saturday and carried the championship contest into the final stage.
Evans recovers from late puncture
The puncture on the penultimate stage was Evans' second such setback at that point in consecutive rallies, following a similar incident in Chile. In Sardinia, it forced him to stop and replace the wheel immediately before the decisive Power Stage.
Evans had also faced road-cleaning duties during the gravel rally. Toyota's championship leader was sixth after Friday morning's running before remaining in contention through the rest of the event.
The final-day points situation had already tightened following Thierry Neuville's Saturday retirement and time lost by Fourmaux because of a puncture. Neuville had taken the rally lead from Fourmaux on Friday's final stage before crashing out on Saturday afternoon.
First titles after five runner-up finishes
The championship ends Evans' run of five runner-up finishes in the WRC drivers' standings. He had also arrived at the season finale as championship leader on two previous occasions without taking the title.
Evans is the first British driver to win the WRC drivers' championship since Richard Burns in 2001. Martin secured the corresponding co-drivers' championship, while Toyota won the 2026 manufacturers' title.
WRC Promoter CEO Éric Boullier highlighted the champions' persistence after their previous near-misses.
“Elfyn and Scott have shown incredible resilience throughout this championship,” Boullier said. “They have come close before, but they kept working, kept believing and kept delivering when the pressure was highest.”
Toyota crews fill the podium
All three championship contenders, Evans, Solberg and Pajari, represented Toyota Gazoo Racing. Solberg's rally victory, Ogier's second place and Pajari's third gave the manufacturer a sweep of the podium at the final round.
The lead had changed hands earlier in the event. Fourmaux headed a Hyundai one-two after Friday's opening loop before Neuville moved ahead on the day's final stage. Solberg, who ended Friday in third, took over at the front on Saturday morning and built the 33.6-second margin he carried into Sunday.
Rally Italia Sardegna ran from October 1 to October 4 as the 13th and final round of the 2026 season. The FIA must confirm the final results before Evans and Martin's championships become official.
