Elfyn Evans ends seven-year wait for a Toyota World Rally Championship title
After seven years with Toyota and five runner-up finishes, Elfyn Evans has finally claimed the World Rally Championship crown, emerging from a three-way fight with team-mates Oliver Solberg and Sami Pajari in a title decider on Sardinia’s demanding roads
TGR/McKlein
October 4, 2026 Alghero, Sardinia
The North-Western coast of the Mediterranean island of Sardinia played host to the crowning of the UK’s first World Rally champion in 25 years when Elfyn Evans followed Colin McRae (1995) and Richard Burns (2001) into the history books. It was the culmination of seven long years – including five series runner-up positions – for the Welshman since he became part of the works Toyota line-up. Evans and co-driver Scott Martin emerged from an epic three-way title fight with Toyota stablemates Oliver Solberg and Sami Pajari. While Finn Pajari’s dynamite late-summer form faded at the wrong time (he finished third), Swede Solberg, in his first full season with Toyota, came mightily close to overturning his points deficit. Solberg still won the rally, but slid off two corners from the end of the title-deciding, bonus-points Power Stage.