- Evans and Martin win first WRC titles.
- Decided on Rally Italia Sardegna Power Stage.
- Evans beat Solberg by 8.9s on stage.
- Solberg finishes five points behind Evans.
- TGR-WRT sweeps all three championships again.
Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team’s Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin have won their first FIA World Rally Championship drivers’ and co-drivers’ titles after an intra-team battle decided on the final stage of the season at Rally Italia Sardegna. For South African fans of the brand, the result means Toyota’s rally team has again taken all three world championships, with the GR Yaris Rally1 ending its final season of the current homologation cycle as the car to beat.
How the title fight unfolded in Sardinia
Evans entered the finale with a lead of 17 points over team-mate Sami Pajari and 21 over Oliver Solberg. Opening the road on sandy gravel, he finished Friday sixth overall, while Solberg ended the day third and took the rally lead on Saturday morning.
A punctured tyre on the second pass of Osilo – Tergu cost Evans close to two minutes and took him out of contention for Sunday points. That left him with a virtual lead of one point over Solberg heading into the Power Stage, where the quicker driver would be champion. Solberg was faster on the split times but ran off the road in the final stretch. He recovered to win the rally but finished the stage 8.9s down on Evans.
Evans and Martin end a long wait
The title follows seven seasons with TGR-WRT, during which the pair finished runners-up in five of the previous six years. Their 2026 season included wins in Sweden and Japan. Evans is the first Welsh driver to win the title, and Martin the first English co-driver to do so. Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala said Evans and Martin “could finally get the titles that they deserve”.
GR Yaris Rally1 and the rest of the Toyota crews
It is the seventh time in eight years that a TGR-WRT crew has won the title, and the fifth time in six years the team has swept all three championships, having secured the manufacturers’ crown in Chile. Solberg and Elliott Edmondson finished five points behind, Pajari and Marko Salminen six points behind. Solberg’s win was the GR Yaris Rally1’s 12th from 13 rallies this season and its 48th in total.
Sébastien Ogier finished second for a record 121st WRC podium and finished the year fourth with Vincent Landais. Takamoto Katsuta completed five GR Yaris Rally1 drivers in the top six. The car now makes way for new technical regulations in 2027.
Supplied by MotorPress (Riaan Esterhuysen, Senior Manager: PR & Corporate Communication, Toyota South Africa)
This story is based on aggregated news, press release(s) or other sources and was prepared with the help of AI tools, which can make mistakes. Prices, specifications, general information and availability may change, so confirm the details with the manufacturer, other news sources or a dealer.