How Elfyn Evans plans to finally achieve rallying’s holy grail

Elfyn Evans says lessons have been learned and areas for improvement identified to become world rally champion after the agony of losing the title by four points to Sebastien Ogier last year.

The Toyota driver heads into the 2026 season as a five-time title runner-up and the most successful driver of the current WRC crop yet to secure a world title. Last year, Evans came the closest he’s been to title glory only to lose out to team-mate Ogier in an intense decider in Saudi Arabia.

Evans produced arguably his best season to date in 2025, proving to be the most consistent driver, finishing inside the top six on all 14 rounds – including two wins in Sweden and Kenya. The Welshman led the championship after 10 of the 14 events and, in truth, did very little wrong during the campaign.

Managing to combine speed and consistency to avoid suffering any major setbacks during the season was impressive, but it was not quite enough to deny Ogier, who produced arguably the best campaign of his life to claim a historic ninth world title, despite sitting out three rallies. Last year marked the third occasion Ogier denied Evans the title after the Toyota pair went head-to-head in 2020 and 2021, with the titles both determined at the final rounds at Rally Monza.

Only six weeks have passed since the conclusion of last season, but attention has already fully turned to 2026, offering little time to ponder and reflect on what could have been. Preparations for next week’s annual Monte Carlo season opener began last week, with Evans rejoining his Toyota squad in the south of France to ready himself for the start of another campaign, where securing the title is at the forefront of his mind.

Will Evans’ approach change for 2026?

After losing the title by four points, Evans knows there is no need for drastic changes to his approach for 2026. The Welshman is renowned for his meticulous preparation. Last year, he proved there is no issue when it comes to consistency in scoring points while delivering the speed to challenge arguably rallying’s greatest of all time in Ogier.

But where does he think he can improve to take that final step and land the world title to become the first British champion since Richard Burns in 2001? One factor that Evans knows is that reigning champion Ogier is scheduled to contest only 10 rounds in 2026 – one rally fewer than last year.

Elfyn Evans took the title fight to the season finale

“I don't know if I will change fully my approach, but I think there was a few cases last year where we were fighting, let's say, and I maybe didn't stress so much to beat him [Ogier] at the start of the year [due to him competing in a part-time campaign] But now, obviously, we know [the score],” said Evans.

“You always know that every point counts, and of course you want to win, but maybe you don't break your balls to try and beat him. If we're in that same position again, then maybe you have to treat it a little differently.

“He still did many rallies less, so that's not an advantage at the end of the day. But I just need to be aware that the situation can change during the year and I guess it's a lesson that every point counts.”

Does Evans need to take more risks?

Evans has always been calculated in his approach to rallies, which is perhaps most evident in his ability to score points in all rounds in 2025. But, after losing the title last year by four points, is there a case to be made to take more risks that could result in the ultimate reward in 2026?

“I think at certain moments I was maybe a bit calculated on the gravel, but at the same time, they were positions where if you took a lot of risk, maybe you'd find one or two more points, but really the position wasn't going to change," he said.

"I found myself running first on the road and struggling, and therefore having very little chance by the end of Friday, and then, what's the point to push all Saturday then, in a way, because you're not going to catch anybody if you're in that position.

“Of course, on Sundays, there were opportunities where I didn't capitalise fully. I'm sure everybody can say that at some moments, but I don't see too much changing [in my approach].”

Elfyn Evans struggled in Sardinia last year

Where can Evans make a difference?

One of the areas where Evans struggled in 2025 was opening the road in dry, gravel rallies such as Portugal, Sardinia and Greece.

After making a blistering start to the 2025 season, Evans found himself disadvantaged by road position with the calendar featuring seven consecutive gravel events from round four onwards. This year, crews will start the year with a mixture of asphalt (Monte Carlo, Croatia, Canary Islands) snow (Sweden) and gravel (Kenya and Portugal) making up the first seven events.

The run of seven consecutive gravel rounds still exists, but this will make up the entire second half of the year from the end of June to November, which could perhaps offer a different scenario come the title race.

“I was struggling a lot in that early part of the gravel season. The road order, as we know, is a big factor to that. I think if you're struggling and you have the road order, you basically have no chance. Maybe you can make a small difference on the first day, but you're still not going to be leading, which is the reality,” he added.

“But of course, now the calendar is a bit flipped on its head where there's a lot more mix between tarmac and gravel in the first half of the season. But this string of seven [gravel] rallies is now the whole second half of the season. I don't know if we will anyway end up in the same position because the dynamic of the championship is slightly different from that point of view.”

Evans openly admitted that his pace in Portugal, Sardinia and Greece was, in his own harsh assessment, ”pathetically slow”, but he is already confident he knows how to make improvements in that area this year.

“What was missing, I guess, were two key events, even though the performance was not bad in them. When you look at Japan and Chile, we were fighting with Seb all the way to the end, and if we had been able to do a bit more and won those rallies, then that would have had a massive change in swinging in the outcome, but it didn't happen,” he said.

Elfyn Evans, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

“There's many moments you can pick in the season. You can say in Portugal and Sardinia, we were pathetically slow. That side definitely is the area to really focus on because that's clearly the part where the performance was not the same as everywhere else, these dry gravel rallies, especially Portugal, Sardinia, Greece, they were the ones that were most tough.

“I think we already have a better base [set up] to start with now than what we had, assuming it still works in Portugal and Sardinia, but it should be better at least.”

Will the championship battle be weaker in 2026?

One big difference for this year’s title fight is that two former world champions and perennial championship challengers in Kalle Rovanpera and Ott Tanak will be absent. The pair were both involved in last year’s title fight, but in 2026, two-time champion Rovanpera (2022,2023) has made the bold switch from rallying to single-seaters, while 2019 world champion Tanak is taking a sabbatical from full-time WRC competition.

There is no question the absence will be felt, but there is a real chance that at least one of those shoes in the title fight could be filled by Toyota’s new signing Oliver Solberg. Already a winner of an outright WRC event in Estonia last year, many expect the reigning WRC2 champion to be fighting for more wins in 2026. Likewise, if Hyundai can improve its package, 2024 world champion Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux could also find themselves in the hunt.

“If you lose two potential championship candidates, let's say, in theory, of course you would say that the percentage of championship challengers maybe is a bit less, but I don't think it's going to really change the overall pace of any of the rallies because everybody is anyway fighting so close,” Evans added.

“There are people like Oliver, who we don't know how his first season back in Rally1 is going to go, but we have seen already that he's capable of winning rallies.

“We see already that Oliver has some different direction with the car. That can be a good and a bad thing because it can start to confuse, let's say, the direction to a point, I think, myself, Kalle and Seb had [setup] differences, but we were fairly well aligned, and we could develop the car quite well together. It looks like Oliver will go in quite a different direction at the moment. But it could open new ideas to keep pushing the team forward.

Toyota reveals striking new 2026 WRC challenger 

Sebastien Ogier pays tribute to WRC rival that ‘pushed him the hardest’

How did WRC champion Kalle Rovanpera’s single-seater debut go?

"I think the standard of the championship will not drop. But of course, there's two experienced challengers that are not there.”

After coming so close to the title in five of the last six seasons, the defeats have taken their toll on Evans, but it hasn’t dampened his motivation.

“There is no difference, really [to my motivation]. I just keep doing the same and hopefully find some improvements along the way. We will keep trying,” he said.

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