Evans: “I had probably lost a lot of belief before Solberg’s mistake”

Elfyn Evans admits that he lost his belief on winning the 2026 driver title before Oliver Solberg made a mistake in Powerstage while he reveals his feelings after his becoming a WRC Champion and has already set his goals ahead of the new season.

For years, Elfyn Evans had been one of the most consistent and competitive drivers in the World Rally Championship without ever managing to take the ultimate prize. Five times he had finished runner-up in the drivers’ championship, including a heartbreaking four-point defeat in 2025. In 2026, however, the story finally changed.

Driving for Toyota Gazoo Racing alongside co-driver Scott Martin, Evans produced a season built on speed, consistency, resilience and, perhaps most importantly, the ability to remain in contention when things did not go his way.

Evans started the season strongly, finishing second at Rallye Monte-Carlo before claiming victory in Sweden. Although difficult rallies in Kenya and Croatia disrupted his momentum, he recovered with a second-place finish in the Canary Islands and returned to the top of the championship standings. From that point onwards, Evans remained championship leader for the rest of the season.

His second victory came at Rally Japan, while further podiums in Portugal and Finland helped him maintain a strong advantage despite several difficult weekends. Evans' campaign was not built purely on victories, but on his ability to consistently score points and minimise the damage whenever circumstances went against him.

The second half of the season brought increasing pressure. Sami Pajari produced three consecutive victories in Estonia, Finland and Paraguay, while Oliver Solberg also emerged as a major threat. Evans continued to lead the championship, but his advantage gradually shrank as his Toyota team-mates gained momentum.

Rally Chile proved another crucial moment. Evans was running second and appeared set for a strong result before a damaged tyre forced him to stop and change a wheel, dropping him to fifth. He nevertheless salvaged valuable Power Stage points and arrived at the final round still in control of the championship.

Everything came down to Rally Italia Sardegna. Evans entered the season finale leading Pajari by 17 points and Solberg by 21, with all three Toyota drivers still mathematically capable of winning the title.

The final rally produced an extraordinary climax. Solberg controlled the event and appeared to have put himself in position to take the championship, while Evans struggled with the disadvantage of opening the road. A puncture on the penultimate stage cost Evans further time, meaning the title would effectively be decided on the final Wolf Power Stage.

Evans completed his run first and could only wait. Solberg was faster through most of the stage and looked set to take the crucial bonus points, but went off the road just two corners from the finish. Although he recovered and won the rally, the mistake cost him the Power Stage points he needed to overturn Evans’ advantage.

Evans was therefore crowned 2026 FIA World Rally Champion with 243 points, ahead of Solberg on 238 and Pajari on 237. Just six points separated the top three after 13 rallies, underlining just how competitive and unpredictable the championship had been. He finally became a World Rally Champion, ending a 25-year wait for a British WRC champion.

“Naturally it feels pretty good as it's starting to sink in a little bit”, Evans said.

“I think there's a big element of relief and joy after so many years of coming quite close. 

“I think it was a nice moment to have so many family and friends nearby and there with us during the weekend and to have so much support from home this time round”.

Moreover, he was asked about this year’s championship and if he always believed that he could win: “We, of course, continued to target to win all the way through from start to end.

“But of course, I've been in this position quite a few times before and you know I feel I'm quite a realistic person, and I definitely treated the championship with a very open mind and always tried to, of course, target my best but also try to remain quite level-headed and focus on each race as it came.

“I would say that it was a season quite different to how I've built my championship campaigns in the past because my strength in the past was that I was very consistent throughout the year.

“Whereas this year, there was actually a few more mistakes in the championship build up than usual.

“And quite a lot of setbacks along the way.

“But I think our determination and sort of will to perform better on Sundays, which was a clear target at the start of the year, really paid off during the year.

“I think that made a huge difference to the overall championship campaign and helped us, you know, stay in the lead for the championship for so long during the dry gravel period. “So, it was definitely a different way to build a championship to before.

“And despite the setbacks obviously that we had in Paraguay, Chile, and also in Sardinia with the punctures and the tire issues, we just about managed to hang on in the end there”.

Additionally, he said about Rally Sardinia: “I would say Rally Sardinia was one of the more difficult events of the season. 

“I think there were a few key rallies where the road sweeping effect was really huge. 

“And not only on first pass, but, but sometimes even worse on the second pass. 

“And I felt like we did a fairly solid job on Friday. 

“I felt like I was driving on the whole pretty well. 

“Things had gone okay, but naturally Oliver had huge pace. 

“Oliver had huge pace and of course he managed to fight his way towards the front of the field very effectively. 

“And of course that meant thatwe always knew heading into the rally that the danger, the way he would be most dangerous is if he could fight for the win of the rally. 

“So he did exceptionally well to challenge for that win from third on the road. 

“But of course, we ended up in a position on Friday evening where we had quite big gaps already after opening the road all day, and the prospect of catching somebody in front was slim. 

“And so we felt our best chance was actually to make sure we stayed out of trouble. 

“But that was quite difficult to accept that we were perhaps not taking every risk and perhaps not feeling like we were there just in case in a way. 

“But obviously by being clean and, and staying out of trouble, we left ourselves a chance on Sunday. 

“We saw again the road order play a key part on Sunday. 

“But we were sort of keeping our chances alive, of course, and then the puncture was a setback. 

“There was a lot of difficulty throughout the weekend, and of course, we had to try and keep believing in the end, until the end, even if, to be fair, I had probably lost a lot of belief in those final moments just before Oliver made his mistake towards the end.”

Finally, he told about his targets for the 2027 WRC season: “The goals are already set. 

“The goals are always the same every year regardless of the outcome of the year before. 

“Of course, we haven't outlined our plans yet for 2027. 

“But naturally I want to continue competing and the target for when I do compete will naturally be to try and win again. 

“But of course, with the time that we have available now, on one hand, it gives us a bit of time to take a break. 

“It's been a very intense season, but it also gives time to, to prepare well and get used to this new generation of car for next year”.

Photo Credits: Toyota