Onto the final day then and the crews faced four stages over 71 kilometres to complete the event. Takamoto and James would continue to open the road after their exit on the first stage of the rally. As confirmed, Thierry and Martijn would not return to the action as their car was too badly damaged.

 

First up then was SS13 Carampangue 1 and it was an excellent start for Elfyn and Scott as they set the pace from Adrien and Alex even though the Hyundai crew got a puncture, whilst Seb was third. The Welshman’s pace stretched the gap over the reigning champions to 5.4 seconds. This also meant that Elfyn was quickest on Super Sunday. Josh had a moment under braking and went on at a junction, hitting a bank and lost the bumper and lower front splitter as well. They finished the stage and went to check the car over.

 

Time then for the stage which be the power stage later, SS14 BioBio 1 and Oliver was quickest from Elfyn and then Seb a further nine tenths of a second back. Elfyn maintained the fastest times for Super Sunday over Seb, and this was looking really good for the championship. Josh did make it through the stage as well after checking the Puma over between the stages and stated the front end was lifting on the jumps!

 

Time then for the penultimate stage, SS15 Carampangue 2 and Seb was fastest from Adrien and Oliver. What then for Elfyn who had been the fastest throughout the Sunday’s stages? Well, it was a disaster really for him and Scott as they stopped early in the stage after getting a puncture. They completed the stage and lost over two minutes, the result of which meant they fell to fifth overall and behind Sami as well.

 

We came then to the final stage, SS16 BioBio 2, the Powerstage. The startlist was shuffled as well with Elfyn and Scott not being allowed to take their second-place overall position after Saturday’s stages and had to start fifth. They set the pace though beating everyone before Oliver came through to take the fastest time and the maximum points for the power stage. Sami was third, Takamoto fourth and Seb fifth fastest and picking up the final point in the stage. Meanwhile, Oliver and Elliott had taken their second win of the season and Toyota confirmed themselves as this year’s Manufacturers Champions.

Let’s hear from the drivers then and take a look at the final finishing positions.

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Oliver Solberg

“It was always my dream to drive for Toyota and for me to be able to play a small part for the first time in winning a manufacturers’ title feels very special. It also feels incredible to be back on the top step of the podium. It has been an up-and-down season for me but the team always supported and believed in me, along with Elliott who’s been doing an amazing job, and things have really been coming together well in the last few rallies. Today it was tricky to find the right feeling on this demanding first stage, but we were able to keep a good gap and then push on the Power Stage. It’s great to also come back a bit in the championship and hopefully we can carry this momentum into the final rallies.”

Sébastien Ogier

“Congratulations to the whole team: one more time we are world champions altogether! Hats off to everybody at the factory and every single member of our team because winning so many years in a row is a special achievement and it’s never easy. Nobody in the team takes anything for granted and we are always trying to improve, which is the mentality I’ve always tried to have in my career, and it has been great fun driving this car. This weekend after the time we lost in the first stage it was a big fight to try and come back towards the top positions. We couldn’t quite get the win – congratulations to Oliver and Elliott who did a great job – but it’s still a podium so we have many reasons to smile.”

Sami Pajari

“This was a tricky rally for us. It wasn’t the result we would have wanted, and the pace was not as good as we hoped for, but today we tried to maximise what we could, and we were able to gain a few important points. In the end we didn’t lose anything because Elfyn was unfortunate today, and the championship fight is getting really interesting with Oliver doing a very good job here and scoring lots of points. Congratulations to everyone in the team for securing this manufacturers’ championship. Even if we have been scoring points for TGR-WRT2 instead, it’s nice to be part of this family and I’m super happy for everyone involved.”

Elfyn Evans

“I want to say a huge congratulations to everyone in the team and thank you for their efforts this year: it’s a privilege to be part of this team and to have now won these six straight titles together. We were having a pretty solid rally here with a good start in the rain on Friday and after that we tried to keep fighting as best as we could even if we dropped away from Oliver, who did a great job. I had a good feeling in the car today and was pleased with how the first two stages went, but then we got this puncture without warning in the penultimate stage. It was very costly in terms of points, but we took what we could from the Power Stage, and we just have to keep pushing in what’s now a full three-way fight in the championship.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I’m very proud to be part of this team and of another manufacturers’ title. At least in the two rallies this year when the team needed me to score manufacturers’ points, in Sweden and Croatia, I could achieve good results so I’m proud to feel like I could contribute as well. But this title is mainly because every single person in the team is working so hard and pushing all the time. Thank you to them for that and for supporting me in the more difficult moments. I had a difficult start to this weekend but at least I could come back strongly and take two points from the Power Stage. A big thank you to James who did an amazing job, and to Aaron who was also helping us remotely.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“To be honest, we have no regrets this weekend, we tried everything to optimise the tyre package that we had; it didn’t pay off which is a shame because I feel like I can push a lot more in the stages, but the tyres don’t allow us. This morning I started to push hard and as soon as I did, we started to have some issues with the tyres, so it was quite frustrating. This has been a pure driving rally, with different profiles from Friday through to Sunday, and the fans have been amazing, so it is one of the rallies I like the most. Now we switch focus to Sardinia; I have always been fast there and hopefully it will be a good one for us.”

Esapekka Lappi

“All in all, it is good to get to the end of the rally without having any issues with the car, no punctures so we collected some points which is a positive for us. Unfortunately, the weekend was quite difficult on the whole; the conditions on Friday were not easy and I didn’t have confidence with the car, so it was hard to be able to fight. Sunday was a bit more positive as I was able to push a bit more and get more confidence, but the damage was already done on Friday.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“It’s been a weekend of ups and downs, cleaning the road on Friday came with a lot of mud, but it’s been nice to finish our South American adventure with sixth in Paraguay and seventh here in Chile. They were really tough events for the team, but we still managed to get two finishes, and hopefully in Sardinia we can have some advantage with our road position.”

Jon Armstrong

“It wasn’t our goal to have Saturday end up like that, that’s for sure, we really wanted to have a clean event. Friday was tricky because of the wet weather, so it was pleasing to get through that cleanly. Then on Saturday’s second stage, I thought I remembered a corner quite well, but it was shorter than I expected before it tightened, so I thought I had more time to slow the car. We ran wide, touched the bank, rolled and damaged the front of the car, and had to Super Rally. It’s disappointing because there’s a lot of effort and motivation from everyone, and the aim now is to have more clean rallies. We know the pace is good whenever we get into a good rhythm, it’s just about being able to put it all together, and we’re working towards that.”

 

Super Sunday Classification – Rally Chile

1	S. Ogier	39:54.9
2	O. Solberg	+3.8
3	A. Fourmaux	+6.0
4	S. Pajari	+22.2
5	T. Katsuta	+41.2

Final Overall Classification – Rally Chile

1	O. Solberg	E. Edmondson	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	2:57:08.2
2	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+16.6
3	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+33.3
4	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+1:33.9
5	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+2:22.3
6	E. Lappi	E. Mälkönen	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+5:07.0
7	J. McErlean	E. Treacy	Ford Puma Rally1	+7:31.5
8	Y. Rossel	A. Dunand	Lancia Ypsilon Rally2	+9:31.0
9	R. Virves	J. Viilo	Skoda Fabia RS Rally2	+10:24.0
10	G. Greensmith	J. Andersson	Toyota GR Yaris Rally2	+10:58.2

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 12

1	E. Evans	230
2	S. Pajari	213
3	O. Solberg	209
4	S. Ogier	171
5	A. Fourmaux	167
6	T. Katsuta	163
7	T. Neuville	129
8	H. Paddon	38
9	J. McErlean	35
10	E. Lappi	33

Summary

What a drive from Oliver and Elliott then bringing their second win of the season and their third ever overall victory. It was a very good drive from the Swede with his British co-driver, Elliott at the event which they won last years WRC2 crown. This brought the crew closer to their championship leading teammates Elfyn and Scott.

 

Speaking of Elfyn and Scott they had a really good rally. Yes, I know that they ended up finishing fifth and not in second place, but they drove so well, and the tyre failure was not down to them. They almost took the power stage as well in a drive on Sunday which apart from the puncture would likely have taken the majority of the Sunday points. They led the rally and made the best of the road position with the wet road on Friday morning’s taking a number of good stage wins. It was an excellent drive, and they only lost a few points to Sami and Marko, holding a seventeen-point lead to the Finnish crew.

 

Obviously, Seb and Vincent took second overall after a good drive during which they took a few stage wins and when Elfyn and Scott had their problem the reigning champions were there to move into second place.

 

Finally, Adrien and Alex who had been in third place before being passed by their fellow countrymen for that very position before they then benefitted from the tyre problem to move back onto the podium.