How Evans defied history to join rallying greats

For what must have felt like an eternity, Elfyn Evans feared history was repeating itself yet again.

At 3.05pm local time in Sardinia on Sunday, Evans could only stand and watch as another world rally title looked to be slipping from his grasp.

Evans was preparing in his head yet another runners-up speech - it would be his sixth - as he waited for Oliver Solberg to cross the finish line and be crowned world champion.

How could this be happening again?

Of the five previous times he had been championship runner-up, three had been decided on the final day and twice after he had taken a lead into the final event.

But at 3.06pm, for once the motor-racing gods were on his side.

With just two turns to go on the final stage of the final round and with victory in sight, Solberg somehow careered off the track into the Sardinian sand to hand Evans his first world title.

In the most dramatic of finishes, the 37-year-old from north Wales became the first British winner of the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 25 years.

Only two British men had taken the title since the WRC's 1977 inception, matching the exploits of legendary pair Colin McRae (1995) and Richard Burns (2001).

Louise Aitken-Walker was Britain's first world champion when WRC ran a women's version in 1990.

"It wouldn't by my proudest way of winning it, but it's job done," said Evans.

"It's been a difficult weekend. I felt on Friday things were slipping away. We were a bit powerless with the road position we had and Oliver was flying."

His experienced co-driver Scott Martin revealed Evans was already apologising for his stage performance as they waited for Solberg to finish.

"I've said all week that until we arrived at the beach after that last stage it was never over. How true that turned out to be," said Martin.

Evans and Martin have been consistent performers throughout the 2026 championship, through the streets of Monaco, the ice and snow of Sweden, the flowing roads of Chile, and the punishing, sun-baked gravel tracks of southern Europe.

Despite winning only two of the previous 12 events, the pair took a 21-point lead into the final race at Rally Italia Sardegna.

Solberg, whose father Petter won the 2003 title, was around one kilometre from glory only to suffer motorsport's version of Devon Loch.

"The lead up to this event gave us a bit of a buffer and we just about managed to hold on at the end. It was an incredible finish," said Evans.

"I feel for [Solberg] after he came so close and lost at the last moment. I've been in a similar situation and it will be tough for him for a few days, but he's shown he's one to watch for the future."

Evans, like Solberg, is also from fine rally-driving stock. His father Gwyndaf was British champion, as well as runner-up four times, but the motor dealer from farming stock never got the break to be a major contender on the world stage.

The curse of finishing second passed down to his son who had already turned professional by the time his father claimed the last of those near misses in 2010.

Evans clinched his first WRC stage win in Germany in 2014 and a first podium in Argentina a year later, before having to drop down to the WRC2 class in 2016.

Evans admitted that blow only fueled his determination to make it in the WRC and a first rally victory followed - in his home event in Wales - in 2017.

He has been remarkably consistent, finishing second for the title in 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024 and, perhaps most agonisingly, to Sebastien Ogier by just four points in the final race of 2025.

He appeared condemned to be one of sport's great runners-up until the late drama of Sardinia threw up one of the championship's most thrilling finishes.

There may have been a stroke of fortune about the title win, but few can deny Evans earned it.