Evans eyes elusive WRC title as season finale looms in Sardinia
Welsh rally driver Elfyn Evans holds a 17-point lead heading into the season-ending Rally Italia Sardegna, seeking to end a run of five runner-up finishes in six years.
Elfyn Evans, the 37-year-old rally driver from Dolgellau in north-west Wales, heads into the Rally Italia Sardegna, running from 1-4 October, with a 17-point lead in the World Rally Championship standings. The season was shortened after the planned Saudi Arabia finale was removed from the calendar, making Sardinia the decisive final round.
If Evans holds off Toyota team-mates Sami Pajari and Oliver Solberg, he will become only the third British driver to win the WRC title, joining Colin McRae and Richard Burns.
Evans has finished runner-up in the championship five times over the past six years. In 2020, he lost the title to Sebastien Ogier by just eight points after crashing on the final round in Monza. Ogier won again in 2021. In 2022, Evans struggled with the newly introduced hybrid cars and finished fourth, while Kalle Rovanpera took the title in 2023. In 2024, Thierry Neuville became a first-time world champion, with Evans again finishing second, narrowly. In 2025, Evans built the largest championship lead ever recorded after three rounds, but Ogier steadily closed the gap and claimed a record-equalling ninth title at the new Rally Saudi Arabia, leaving Evans in sixth place at that final round.
In the 2026 season, Evans took the championship lead after winning February's Rally Sweden and has held it since, despite not finishing higher than third in his last five rallies. In Sardinia he faces the added challenge of starting first on the road, a position that has historically caused him problems on gravel stages. Evans needs a maximum of 19 points to secure the title.
