{"id":2179896,"date":"2026-10-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2179896"},"modified":"2026-10-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T21:00:00","slug":"elfyn-evans-is-world-rally-champion-after-incredible-last-stage-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2179896","title":{"rendered":"Elfyn Evans is world rally champion after INCREDIBLE last stage drama"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Elfyn Evans is world rally champion, at long bloody last. The Welshman, 37, has finally joined Colin McRae and Richard Burns on the exclusive list of British WRC winners having previously finished second on five<\/em> separate occasions.<\/p>\n

It was very nearly six. Evans \u2013 together with co-driver Scott Martin<\/a> \u2013 had carried a 17-point lead over teammate Sami Pajari into the finale at Rally Italia Sardegna, with fellow Toyota driver Oliver Solberg a further four points back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But it was the Swede \u2013 son of 2003 champion Petter \u2013 who emerged as the biggest threat, powering into the lead with a stunning drive on Saturday as Evans was hampered by a mix of road position and his own caution.<\/p>\n

And when he suffered a puncture on the penultimate stage of the rally on Sunday \u2013 whittling his provisional lead down to a single point \u2013 it looked like the title was slipping away again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That set up an agonising Power Stage climax, in which whoever was quickest over the 7.1km Sassari-Argentiera would be crowned world rally champion for the first time.<\/p>\n

Evans set the third fastest time but was convinced it wouldn\u2019t be enough, and for virtually all of Solberg\u2019s final flying run it looked like he was right, the 25-year-old 1.9s up at the last split and on the cusp of a stunning comeback.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But two corners from the finish, disaster: Solberg \u2013 still pushing with the same gusto that had put him within touching distance of rally\u2019s biggest prize \u2013 lost control of his GR Yaris and smashed into the undergrowth, handing the championship back to Evans and sparking bedlam in the service park.<\/p>\n

Solberg \u2013 who\u2019d come so close to winning what would\u2019ve been a fairytale championship in his maiden Rally1 campaign \u2013 was understandably inconsolable, but still gracious in the aftermath and brave enough to face the podium having still won his third rally of the season.<\/p>\n

For Evans and Martin though, the win is a testament to their perseverance after so many gut-wrenching setbacks: the pair were runners up in 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025, and with legend Sebastian Ogier only competing part-time and two-time champ Kalle Rovanper\u00e4 off exploring other disciplines<\/a>, missing out this season, with that<\/em> final round lead, would\u2019ve been the ultimate test of their mettle.<\/p>\n

They passed, just. As Evans told TopGear.com a few years ago: \u201cGo to every rally, try your best, do the best preparation you can and see what happens at the end of the year. That\u2019s it really, the rest is simple.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Da iawn, Scott ac Elfyn. Ardderchog!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elfyn Evans is world rally champion, at long bloody last. The Welshman, 37, has finally joined Colin McRae and Richard Burns on the exclusive list of British WRC winners having previously finished second on five separate occasions. It was very nearly six. Evans \u2013 together with co-driver Scott Martin \u2013 had carried a 17-point lead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-2179896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2179896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2179896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2179896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2179896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2179896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2179896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}