Category: WRC

We came then to the final day of action and three stages to run over 61km’s. Not only was the win on the cards for the crews, there were also extra points for the fastest five through the stages, there of course were points available for the five fastest in the powerstage.

Once again Martins would open the road throughout the day, whilst Elfyn would be last to complete for the top-class car crews. He held a little over thirteen second lead over his Japanese teammate as they fought for victory.

 

It was an excellent start for the rally leader in SS16 Västervik 1as he set the fastest time from his teammates Takamoto and Oliver. It was also a good stage for Martins who was fifth fastest and only just over one second behind Sami. In the overall standings Adrien remained in fourth now a little under ten seconds behind the returning Esapekka. There was a penalty of a minute placed onto Thierry which was applied at the end of Saturday’s action as the Belgian was penalised for not having his helmet strap done up.

 

After a visit to the service park for service came SS17 Västervik 2 and Takamoto was fastest from Sami and Elfyn and only seven tenths covered the three of them. There was a change for overall positions as Adrien moved past Esapekka and into fifth overall. Jon was again on the pace going faster than Thierry by a second, yet barring disaster the Belgian would still take seventh given that there was a gap of thirteen seconds between them.

 

We came then to the final stage, SS18 Umeå 2 the Powerstage. Thierry set the pace in this one and as Elfyn came through he was up on the splits but some of that speed embed away in the final corner towards the flying finish and he finished just one tenth of a second behind giving him second in the stage, whilst Takamoto was third, Oliver fourth and Esapekka fifth.

Let’s take a look at the results and hear from the drivers.

Final Classification – Rally Sweden

1 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 2:35:53.1 2 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +14.3 3 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +46.0 4 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:11.6 5 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:50.3 6 E. Lappi E. Mälkönen Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:53.2 7 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +3:45.9 8 J. Armstrong S. Byrne Ford Puma Rally1 +4:05.5 9 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +6:05.4 10 R. Korhonen A. Viinikka Toyota GR Yaris +10:36.2

Super Sunday Classification – Rally Sweden

1	E. Evans	30:38.5
2	T. Katsuta	+1.0
3	O. Solberg	+13.2
4	S. Pajari	+20.6
5	A. Fourmaux	+32.6

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a great weekend for us and the whole team here in Sweden. The car has been amazing to drive, so a big thanks to the team. It’s an incredible feeling to drive on these fast stages in such nice winter conditions, and when you feel good in the car, it’s always a pleasure. We didn’t have a huge margin coming into the final day, and with so many points available on Sundays, we had to push until the end, but we can be very happy with what we came away with. It’s been a great start to the year, but it’s still early days and we need to keep working hard.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“This is a great result for the team and I’m very happy to be part of it, so a huge thanks to the team for all their hard work. Everything was working well with the car, and I was enjoying it a lot. Big congratulations to Elfyn: he was so strong here again this year and deserves this win. Hopefully next time I have a chance to fight for victory I can push harder. It’s always enjoyable to be in the fight, especially on this kind of high-speed rally when it’s so intense and you’re fighting over tenths of a second. Kenya is another rally that seems to suit me, so I’ll look forward to that.”

Sami Pajari

“This is an amazing result for us and for the team. I want to say a big thank you to the team and to everybody who was giving us such great support after Rallye Monte-Carlo didn’t go to plan. This time we were back on the pace and I’m of course really happy to be back on the podium. I really enjoyed the driving this week with this car in these conditions. It’s nice to be back on the level where I think we should be and where we were at the end of last year. Now we just need to keep pushing for even better results in the future.”

Oliver Solberg

“Of course, I was hoping for more from my home rally, but I think I underestimated how difficult it would be on Friday. My mistake maybe cost a podium and put me on the back foot for the rest of the weekend, but fourth is probably the best I deserve. There’s been a lot of learning in my first proper snow rally with this car and my first time starting first on the road. I tried my best and scored some decent points. The support has been amazing, and I’ve really enjoyed myself in the car. A big thanks to the team: they’ve done a great job and this 1-2-3-4 is a fantastic result.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“The rally was beautiful, and the conditions were good, but we are not where we wanted to be in terms of results. We are still taking home some points, and I’m in a better position than last year in terms of the championship, so we just need to make sure we are on the pace in the upcoming events. We have done a good job at the first two events, but we need to keep our heads down and improve to make sure that the next two rallies are going to be fast.”

Esapekka Lappi

“This weekend was probably a bit better than I was expecting in terms of pace against my team-mates, but on the other hand I’m a bit frustrated that we couldn’t be closer to Toyota. I quickly understood that I only need to compare myself to Thierry and Adrien – it’s the only realistic reference that I need, and it went really well throughout the weekend. The conditions on the roads were good and were less of a tyre killer on the second pass, so it was different to what we usually experience here.”

Thierry Neuville

“We need to take all of our courage as a team to work hard and bring us back to where we belong. We are doing a lot, driving a lot, but somehow, we’re not moving in the right direction. I don’t know where the improvements need to be made – I made a lot of changes during the weekend and there was no difference. We basically had limited grip and a lot of understeer. Kenya has never been our strongest event, but we need to go forward and hope for the best.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Jon Armstrong

“I really enjoyed Rally Sweden – it’s good to get this finish under our belt after Monte. We’ve shown some good pace and good splits along the way, and for our first time on this surface in the Rally1 car, it’s been great for us and the team. We’re really happy with our progress and now we can see how we can improve that going forward. But overall, it’s been a good weekend, and we can be really proud of what we’ve achieved as a team here.”

Josh McErlean

“Rally Sweden done – it’s nice to get to the finish after a really difficult Monte-Carlo, one of the toughest events of my career. It’s been a weekend of ups and downs. Friday didn’t start so cleanly, but we’ve showed some good pace throughout and we’ve got some clear things to work on before Kenya. Overall, it’s been positive from a bounce-back perspective. We’ll focus now on Kenya, and the team has done great to get two cars to the finish inside the top ten – all in all, a good job from the team.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“There were a few unfortunate things happening throughout the weekend, but if you look at the positives, we had our first stage win of the year and we were able to show our pace in some stages – which means we’ve found something good. Jon and Josh also showed some good speed, and overall, as a team I think we can look forward to some more good performances during the summer gravel rallies.”

Romet Jürgenson WRC2

“Sweden this year was one of those difficult events where things just weren’t really clicking for us. We were showing some good performance on Friday afternoon and got a joint-fastest stage time there. But again, on the first loops with more snow and ice, we were generally lacking some performance. On Saturday we ended early after a small crash, but the team did a good job and fixed the car so we could get the confidence back on Sunday. I think we can definitely see the overall package has improved on the Fiesta – it shows that when things are clicking with the set-up, we’re producing some very good stage times, and next time we can come back stronger.”

Mille Johansson WRC2 retired

“Rally Sweden didn’t go our way this year. We faced technical issues during Friday morning which made the car quite low on power. The afternoon wasn’t too bad, but we filled the air filter full of snow on SS5. I was trying hard to find a good rhythm, but unfortunately it ended early for us after an incident that damaged the roll cage. Not the best start of the season, but we will learn and come back stronger.”

 

Summary

Well, what a great drive by Elfyn and Scott in their Yaris this weekend. They maintained a really good pace and when Takamoto and Aaron passed them at the end of Friday they didn’t seems too worried and then we saw them retake the lead on Saturday’s morning stages, they were never headed again on the overall leaderboard and took five stage wins. They join an elite group as three-time winners of this classic rally.

Takamoto and Aaron also had a fantastic rally taking a well-deserved second place and four stage wins along the way. They held the lead overnight from Friday into Saturday but were not able to hold the pace they’d shown on Friday.

 

Finally, Sami and Marko took their second overall podium, winning two stages and mixing it at the front. There was a brief moment on Saturday when they started to edge closer to second placed Takamoto and Aaron but ultimately that was not to develop into anything, and they made it to the third place.

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings 
After Round Two

1	E. Evans	60
2	O. Solberg	47
3	T. Katsuta	30
4	A. Fourmaux	28
5	T. Neuville	21
6	S. Ogier	18
7	S. Pajari	17
8	E. Lappi	9
9	L. Rossel	8
10	Y. Rossel	6

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After Round Two

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	117
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	66
3	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	18
4	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2	14

 

Next up is Safari Rally Kenya held from the 12 to 15 March, just three weeks’ time.

Onto the second day of action and Martins would return to the action in the Puma, meaning he’d open the road throughout the day, whilst Takamoto would be the final car from the top class to complete. Could his teammate Elfyn retake the lead?

 

First up then was SS9 Vännäs 1 and it was a great start for Elfyn to the day as he set the fastest time from Oliver and Sami. Takamoto was fourth and 7.2 slower meaning he’d dropped behind Elfyn by 4.4 seconds into second place. Interestingly Martins who opened the road set the best time of all three M-Sport crews. Meanwhile of those three, Jon was the best placed holding eighth position. Also, Oliver’s pace saw him move ahead of both Esapekka and Adrien and into fourth overall.

 

Onward then to SS10 Sarsjöliden 1 and it was a stage win for Martins in the Puma as all the leading crews came through and could not beat the Latvians time. Elfyn got the closest with a time just nine tenths of a second behind, whilst Oliver was third. It was a good stage for the M-Sport team as Josh was fifth and Jon seventh fastest with the same time as Adrien.

 

Oliver was fastest in SS11 Kolksele 1 by nine tenths over Elfyn whilst Sami was third and having a good start to the day and actually reducing the gap to Takamoto who was in second overall but now only 12.9 ahead of his teammate.

 

After the service break came SS12 Vännäs 2 and it was a stage win for Sami by 1.1 seconds over Esapekka, whilst Takamoto was a further 2.1 seconds and third fastest. Elfyn was keeping close though and was fourth and just seven tenths away meaning he maintained a 15.4 second lead over his teammate as they battled for the top spot.

 

It was a stage win for Elfyn is SS13 Sarsjöliden 2 from Takamoto by 2.6 seconds and Oliver third. Takamoto was not able to set the pace we saw on Friday and was just not comfortable to push as hard as he did. Meanwhile the best of the M-Sport crews was Jon who set the fifth best time putting his car ahead of two Hyundai’s. It was a good run for the Motor Irish Rally Academy supported driver.

 

Just two stages remained then for this second day and Sami was fastest in SS14 Kolksele 2 from Takamoto and Adrien. It was a great stage from the young Finn as Oliver was only seventh and saw the gap to third placed Sami grow to over thirty seconds.

 

The final stage of the day then, SS15 Umeå Sprint 2 and Takamoto was fastest from Oliver and Sami. Elfyn was sixth fastest and the gap was now just over 13 seconds between the two teammates as they battled for victory. Jon also had a great stage setting the fourth best time.

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day Two

1 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 2:05:14.6 2 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +13.3 3 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +25.4 4 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +58.4 5 E. Lappi E. Mälkönen Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:09.5 6 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:17.7 7 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:10.0 8 J. Armstrong S. Byrne Ford Puma Rally1 +3:24.8 9 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +4:48.8 10 R. Korhonen A. Viinikka Toyota GR Yaris +8:24.1

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a good day for us overall. In the morning we were strong and that’s when we were able to make the biggest gains. This afternoon was a bit more mixed. It was much harder on tyres than we expected, but we still got through it cleanly. Tomorrow can still be quite a challenging day: the longer stage we do twice is a tough one and it’s been reversed for this year. The gaps are still small, so I’m sure it’s going to be a good fight.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I can’t be so happy with how today went; I think it could have been much better. In the morning I was struggling with the grip and I’m not completely sure why, but we were losing a lot of time. The conditions are tough because it’s very cold, so in the afternoon we had to manage the tyres as well, but thankfully we didn’t lose so much time. I feel the car has been working well and when we had a good feeling, we had the pace. There’s still one day to go and I’ll definitely try my best.”

Sami Pajari

“I’m pretty satisfied with today and especially this afternoon when we could take a couple of stage wins. I have a really nice feeling with the car and I’m enjoying the driving in these proper winter rally conditions. Taka has also been pretty strong this afternoon, so he hasn’t been making it easy for us to try and close in. There’s still quite a lot of kilometres to go tomorrow and we just need to try and continue the same rhythm and keep pushing.”

Oliver Solberg

“This morning was great for us. The conditions were consistent, the feeling was good, and we could catch some time and some positions. This afternoon I think the road cleaning was playing a bigger part again. There was a lot of loose snow, and I struggled a bit with the rhythm and was sideways a lot. At least we could get up to fourth place today which I think was the realistic goal, as my team-mates are doing a great job in front, and I’ll keep doing my best tomorrow.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Esapekka Lappi

“Overall, I have to say it was a good day. We changed a lot overnight, and then we made some changes throughout the day, and when it started to feel a bit more natural, I decided not to touch the car. It felt good enough for what I wanted, and I just wanted to learn to drive a bit faster. Being the leading Hyundai is good enough for me at the moment, so let’s see where we finish tomorrow.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“I made quite a lot of changes on the car – this morning we made some adjustments to the dampers, and it really helped us this afternoon. It’s a shame we didn’t find this solution earlier, but it’s helped us gain some freedom in the setup to just go for it. Today was quite positive, which is encouraging for tomorrow; it’s still going to be a hard fight against the Toyotas, but we will go for it.”

Thierry Neuville

“The conditions were generally nice today – much more consistent – so everything was a bit easier than yesterday, giving us a bit more speed and letting us enjoy the stages a bit more. I pushed hard with the setup today – we tried lots of different adjustments. I forgot to send my wife flowers for Valentine’s Day, so I told her I would at least set a fastest time, so there was extra pressure today!”

 

Sunday

The final day then will see three stages and a total of 61km’s to bring this year’s edition of Rally Sweden to a close.

 

Can Elfyn hold on to take his third win in this iconic rally, or will Takamoto find the pace to pass his teammate and take his first victory?

 

We’ll find out tomorrow!

The first full day of this winter rally on the beautiful roads of northern Sweden saw a battle for the lead between teammates as they took on seven stages and 125km’s. The first stage of the event had already happened the previous evening and Oliver held the lead from Elfyn and Takamoto was third. Of course, Oliver would open the road throughout Friday’s stages and face that challenge as the championship leader.

 

First up then was SS2 Bygdsiljum 1 and Elfyn would set the pace going almost six seconds faster than Takamoto, with Sami third fastest. Oliver lost quite a bit going almost ten seconds slower than Elfyn with the sixth fastest time. The Swede emerged from the stage in second overall with Takamoto just under a second behind now in third.

 

Elfyn made it two in a row in SS3 Andersvattnet 1 with Takamoto again being the closest challenger but five seconds slower. Adrien was third a further few seconds back. There was some drama for two of the drivers. First Thierry went into a snowbank, and he lost over a minute, setting the twenty-second best time. It was worse though for Martins in this one as he suffered a tyre delamination and was a minute and forty seconds off the best time. Meanwhile Oliver fell four positions down to sixth place, now almost forty seconds behind Elfyn.

 

Oliver came back in SS4 Bäck 1 to set the fastest time from Elfyn by just 1.2 seconds with Takamoto third fastest a further 3 seconds back. The Swede’s pace took him back up the leaderboard into fifth place albeit still well over half a minute from his teammate. Incredibly there was another puncture for Martins in his Puma. It was not a good morning so far for M-Sport.

 

After the service break came SS5 Bygdsiljum 2 and it was a stage win for Takamoto from Sami and Esapekka. Elfyn was fourth fastest and with Takamoto almost nine seconds faster the lead came down to just over five seconds. There was a change further back as Oliver was passed by Adrien for fifth place.

 

Takamoto made two in a row setting the pace in SS6 Andersvattnet 2 from Sami and Elfyn. The Japanese moved a little closer to his Welsh teammate bringing the gap down to just two and a half seconds.

 

There was finally a stage win for the Hyundai team in SS7 Bäck 2 with Thierry setting the pace from Oliver and Takamoto. Elfyn was fifth fastest and dropped behind Takamoto by just a tenth of a second. Meanwhile the two remaining M-Sport crews held eighth and ninth with Jon ahead of Josh.

Onto the final stage of the day then, the SS8 Umeå Sprint 1 and Oliver was fastest from Thierry and Takamoto. Elfyn was fifth and saw the gap to his teammate grow to a little under three seconds.

 

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day One

1 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1:10:33.7 2 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2.8 3 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +22.2 4 E. Lappi E. Mälkönen Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +45.9 5 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +50.3 6 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +51.0 7 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:43.8 8 J. Armstrong S. Byrne Ford Puma Rally1 +2:40.3 9 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +3:31.8 10 R. Korhonen A. Viinikka Toyota GR Yaris +4:41.9

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Takamoto Katsuta

“Everything went well and according to plan today. We knew that the afternoon would be more difficult for the frontrunners, so I just tried to be patient in the morning loop and then in the afternoon we were able to catch back up and take the lead. It was quite a tricky loop in terms of tyre wear, but I think we did a good job of managing that and finding the right places to push. Still there are two days to go but I feel confident and comfortable with the car and just need to keep focused. Elfyn is fast and never easy to beat, but I will try to fight until the end.”

Elfyn Evans

“It was a good start for us this morning, even though the conditions were not straightforward. The grip was changing from one stage to another and keeping us on our toes. Inevitably the road was going to evolve this afternoon and get quicker for those running behind us, but we did what we could. It wasn’t quite enough to hang onto the lead tonight, but there’s still a long way to go. Taka is always very strong on this rally, and it will be nice to fight with him again tomorrow. Our road positions will be more equal and that should keep it interesting.”

Sami Pajari

“I’m quite happy with today, it’s been a pretty good one and it’s always nice to be in a podium position, even if there is still a very long way to go. We didn’t make any mistakes and I’ve been enjoying the driving a lot in these beautiful winter conditions. I’m always looking for things we can do better, and we just need to keep pushing tomorrow. It will be a different challenge with a different road order, but we’ll just do the best we can.”

Oliver Solberg

“I think I underestimated just how difficult it would be as the first car on the road today. It’s a big learning curve. I was a bit careful in the first stage this morning, so I tried to drive a bit more normally and more sideways in the second one, but there was a lot of snow. I was a bit too fast, off the line, and I was lucky to get back on the road. We did hit something and pick up a puncture but didn’t lose too much time. We tried our best this afternoon and we’re still in position to fight for something tomorrow, when the road position will be better, so we need to be positive.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Esapekka Lappi

“To be performing how we were today after such a break is not bad, but it feels like I could drive faster. I’m not on the limit yet, but it’s not been a bad day – we’re still on the pace. We need more grip, but the car has improved compared to two years ago. The conditions today were difficult, and I think all three days will be really icy, so tomorrow will be very similar to today. We will try to stay out of the banks and see where we end up.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“For us, we struggled with performance. We’ve made a step forward from yesterday, but we are certainly not where we want to be compared to our competitors. Positively, we are now fifth, so our road position tomorrow will be better – we kept Oliver behind us, which will hopefully optimise our chance tomorrow. The rally is still long, and we are still in contention for the podium – that is the main thing. It isn’t over until it’s over.”

Thierry Neuville

“Generally, I was a bit more pleased with the balance of the car this afternoon, especially on the last stages of the loop, but the performance is still not there. When the car is difficult to drive but still has the performance, at least the speed is there, but when you’re lacking both it’s very difficult. We are very limited with what we can do, but we are playing around a bit with the car to try and find something. Toyota are strong, and we have to take a step forward to catch them.”

 

Saturday

The second day will see the crew tackle seven stages which total 104km’s. Can Takamoto hold onto the lead, or will we see Elfyn come past him?

 

Time will tell!

Time for the crews to head to the snow-covered roads of northern Sweden. The crews face eighteen stages and a total of 300.99km’s over the three days of competition. As championship leaders, Oliver and Elliott who won in Monte-Carlo will open the road throughout Friday’s stages. There is the added dimension that Friday will see the longest day of action with over 135km’s of stages giving the additional challenge for the Swede and Brit in the ninety-nine Yaris as the road-openers.

Elfyn and Scott are just four points behind their new teammates in the world championship standings and they come to this round as two-time winners. They will have a road position advantage over their teammates. Will they be able to make the best of the advantage they have? Well, there’s no doubt they have the experience and skills to do just that.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Oliver Solberg

“To go to my home rally leading the championship is something crazy that I couldn’t have dreamed of. It’s an amazing feeling, but I’m still taking everything rally-by-rally, with a lot to learn in each different event I go to with this car. Rally Sweden has always been my favourite rally of the year. It’s a great atmosphere with friends and family around. It also has my favourite conditions: it’s the most fun that you can have in a rally car. Starting first on the road in Sweden is maybe not always the best place to be, but it’s still something very cool for me. Maybe in some stages I can have an advantage, and others maybe not. I can only hope for good conditions, do my best, and drive as fast as I can.”

Elfyn Evans

“Rally Sweden is a unique event in the WRC calendar and one that’s usually a lot of fun to drive. Rallye Monte-Carlo was a solid start to the season for us and, as always, we’ll be aiming once again to challenge for victory in Sweden. A lot depends on exactly what the conditions are like. If we get freezing temperatures and good solid icy conditions, then it should be possible to challenge from our position early on the road, like we could in 2025. On the other hand, if there’s a lot of fresh snow to clean, it can be more difficult. We had some good preparation in very cold conditions at the Arctic Rally last week and if we could see something similar in Sweden, it will be a great event.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I’m really looking forward to Rally Sweden. When I started my rally career with the TGR WRC Challenge Program in Finland, I did a lot of my early driving on snow and ice, so I feel comfortable in these conditions. The roads in Sweden also have a similar high-speed character, which I enjoy. Ever since the event moved to Umeå, we’ve always had very nice conditions there with a good snow and ice base. I’ve been competitive there in the last few years and have good confidence from that, so this year I will try to do a similar performance to last year, or even better: this is my target.”

Sami Pajari

“We had a disappointing start to the season at Rallye Monte-Carlo, but I’m looking forward to a better rally in Sweden. It’s one of my very favourite rallies. I’ve always liked driving in those conditions, which are obviously quite natural for a Finnish driver. When I was starting out in rallying, we drove half of the season in winter conditions, so it’s something I’m quite familiar with and normally a very enjoyable rally. I’ve seen that maybe the snowbanks could be smaller than in previous years, but hopefully we still get proper snow and ice conditions and can have a fun winter rally.”

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)

“Rally Sweden is one of my favourite rallies. I’ve driven a lot of events on snow, including this one a few times previously, and the profile of the roads is similar to Finland, so it’s something a bit more familiar for me and I’m very excited. There are many special challenges: the difference in grip when you go off-line can be even bigger on snow than on gravel, and although you can use the snowbanks to push a bit harder, you also need to respect them. Again, we’re not registered for WRC2 points, but the plan is to push, have a good feeling and good pace.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“Rally Sweden can be quite demanding – you need a lot of commitment across all of the stages. We need precision from our car so we can optimise our speed using the snowbanks without getting trapped in them. In recent years, it’s been more frozen with little fresh snow, so there should be fewer snowbanks, and I also expect grip will probably be worse than last year. You need a very well-balanced car that inspires confidence and commitment in every corner. Unlike Monte-Carlo, this is a pure performance rally all weekend, where it is important to take into account the weather conditions when setting up the car. We have a strong road position for this event, so the aim is to go all out for the win and close the gap in the manufacturers’ championship.”

Thierry Neuville

“Rally Sweden is generally a very consistent event, thanks to the snowy surface. As a team, we’ve always performed quite well there, and I won the event back in 2018. To replicate these results, we need a fast car and the right conditions. High snowbanks help us slow down on the roads, but also allow us to lean on them to avoid the ditches. For this to work, the car has to have an easy setup, good rotation, and has to work well with the studded tyres. If there’s fresh snow you need maximum protection, but on solid ice it’s all about a stiffer, more precise set-up. We’re going there targeting the win, but we know the challenge will be tough from Toyota. Last year we were in the fight for victory until the final day, so hopefully we can repeat that again this year.”

Esapekka Lappi

“I thought my WRC career was over, so I’m very surprised and excited to drive at the top level again with Hyundai Motorsport. My results in some of my most recent WRC events haven’t been very successful, so I’m aiming to change that this year and show commitment under every condition that I face. In 2024, the conditions on Friday night were very challenging, with heavy snowfall at night making visibility very limited, but we handled it well. Being Finnish, it’s not the most challenging rally for me, but the high speeds and lack of grip make it tricky. We will benefit if there is fresh snow, as the tyre lines of the cars in front will clear it, whereas if it is icy, it might get slower for the cars behind. We’ve carried out two winter events with a Rally2 car in Finland and a test day with the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 car on snow. Rally Sweden is Enni’s fourth outing in Rally1, our first together in a top-tier manufacturer entry, which makes this opportunity really special for both of us.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“Sweden is a rally I’m really looking forward to. The focus is now on bouncing back, keeping things consistent, and building momentum across the whole weekend. We showed a strong performance level here last year, and with the extra experience I’ve gained since then, the goal is to repeat that level and keep pushing forward. I’m focused and ready to get back to work with the team.”

Jon Armstrong

“I’m really looking forward to Rally Sweden. It’s the only full snow event on the calendar, so it’s always the ultimate playground for driving a rally car. Hopefully we can have something a bit more consistent in terms of conditions compared to the first round of the season. We’ve also got our test with the Puma coming up this weekend, which will be important preparation. I haven’t competed in Sweden since 2022, but I have great memories from the event – that was the year I won the Junior category. The stages have changed a bit since then, so there will be plenty of new notes to write during recce, but I’m really excited for the challenge ahead.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“I’m happy to be starting my first event of the year with M-Sport, and I’m really curious to see how we’ll do on our second Rally Sweden. We want to use the experience we gained last year and apply it this time around. I’m really looking forward to being back with the team and the car, and hopefully we can target another good result and show a similar pace to what we had in Saudi.”

Romet Jürgenson

“It’s always exciting to go to Sweden and drive on snow and ice, especially with the big snowbanks. Going into the rally, we can already be more confident as we’ve competed in this event before. The key will be getting a good feeling with the car during testing, which will really allow us to push in these conditions, as the gaps are going to be very small, and performance is crucial here. That’s the aim – to go for it at this event.”

Mille Johansson

“I’m incredibly excited to step up to WRC2 – it’s a very big step in the right direction for my career. Now we have to work extremely hard to deliver results against the best drivers in the world, and that gives me a lot of motivation and determination.

“Expectations will naturally vary from event to event. At some rallies I want to make a real impact, while others will be more about gaining mileage and building experience with both the car and myself. Rally Sweden is really the event where I want to show good and consistent pace over the whole weekend and hopefully have a great debut in WRC2.”

 

Summary

Well, it’s exciting to see a few drivers return, with Martins and Renars returning for M-Sport Ford, plus Esapekka and Enni making their first start as a crew for Hyundai. The Finn won this rally for the team in 2024 with his old co-driver Janne and now makes a return to the top of the sport with the 2024 WRC2 co-driver champion Enni who joined him in competitive action last year as they competed in the Finnish championship.

 

All eyes will be on the Toyota crews who have had great success in this round ever since the manufacturer returned to the championship in 2017. The question is can Hyundai take their first win in Sweden since 2024 with Esapekka and former co-driver Janne?

 

Enjoy the action which gets underway with shakedown on Thursday morning, UK time 10 o’clock.

We came then to the final day of action and after the heavy rain which fell in Monaco turned to snow on the roads which would make up the final kilometres of this classic event. Josh and Eoin would open the road throughout the four stages with a total of 71.9km’s over them and the powerstage would feature the section known as the Col du Turini.

 

Into the first stage then, SS14 Col de Braus / La Cabanette 1 and there was a remarkable result from this one. The fastest of the Rally1 crews was Adrien and Alex but their time was only good enough for fifth fastest. The stage winner was Matteo Fontana in a Fiesta Rally3 car whilst Yohan Arnard was second fastest in their Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale, Cedric and Jasper in their Fabia Rally2 were third. In addition, Romet and Siim set the fourth best time as well piloting a Fiesta Rally2. A quite remarkable result from the crews from the lower spec cars. Oliver continued to lead the rally by over fifty seconds from Elfyn and Seb. The conditions had changed so much from the earlier crews with the snow and ice across the road to a line which developed to point which led to the result on this stage. Sadly, we lost Greg and Louis before they started the stage on the road section they had to retire.

 

Next up came SS15 La Bollène-Vésubie / Moulinet 1 and yet again Matteo was fastest from Yohan and Elfyn was third and the fastest Rally1. The leader, Oliver had a small spin at a hairpin losing him a few seconds but was still able to set the sixth best time, nineteen seconds down on the Matteo in his Fiesta Rally3. The Swede would see his lead over second placed Elfyn come down to exactly forty-two seconds.

Onwards to the penultimate stage then, SS16 Col de Braus / La Cabanette 2 and we had a return to some normality as Adrien set the fastest time from Oliver, whilst Matteo with his notional time was given the third fastest time. This was given as Pablo Sarrazin had a spin in the stage and blocked the road. Sadly, we lost Jon Armstrong in this stage as he went off the road less than a kilometre into the stage. We also lost his teammate Josh who hit the barrier on the left-hand side of the road near the end of the stage. He did complete the stage, but with heavy damage to the front left suspension he would have to pull out of the rally.

 

We came then to the final stage, SS17 La Bollène-Vésubie / Moulinet 2, the first powerstage of the year and sections which had snow on them earlier had seen some melting, leaving water and some slush as well, but in some shaded sections as the stage climbed to the top of the stage onto the Col du Turini saw snow covered roads with lines left by cars before descending to the finish which saw some wet sections after the snow. Elfyn would be fastest by 6.5 seconds from Oliver, Seb was third, Adrien fourth and Yohan in the Lancia fifth!

 

Oliver and Elliott had taken a remarkable victory, becoming the youngest driver to win this event. An interesting stat which emerged online shared my Oliver’s dad which is that it is 7,575 days since a Solberg led this championship which was following the 2005 New Zealand when Petter was leading.

Let’s take a look at the top ten, the standings from Sunday and hear from the drivers.

 

Final Classification – Rallye Monte-Carlo

1	O. Solberg	E. Edmondson	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	4:24:59.0
2	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+51.8
3	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+2:02.2
4	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+5:59.3
5	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+10:29.8
6	L. Rossel	G. Mercoiret	Citroën C3	+12:58.4
7	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+13:05.4
8	R. Daprà	L. Guglielmetti	Škoda Fabia RS	+15:07.9
9	A. Pelamourgues	B. Pouget	Hyundai i20 N Rally2	+18:09.4
10	E. Camilli	T. de la Haye	Škoda Fabia RS	+18:36.4

 

Super Sunday Classification – Rallye Monte-Carlo

1	Y. Rossel	1:07:55.0
2	E. Evans	+22.4
3	A. Fourmaux	+26.3
4	M. Fontana	+29.7
5	O. Solberg	+29.9

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Oliver Solberg

“To win Rallye Monte-Carlo is an incredible result and a dream come true, and probably the craziest thing I’ve done in my life. I just want to say a big thank you to the team, for their belief in making me a factory driver. It’s our second rally together and our second win. The team has been working so well to get me comfortable in the car on all surfaces and in all conditions. When the conditions were tricky, I tried to push on the snow and ice, and I think that’s where I was able to make the difference. A 1-2-3 for the team is also a fantastic start to the season, especially for the manufacturers’ championship.”

Elfyn Evans

“This is a fantastic result for the team and a huge congratulations to Oliver and Elliott on an amazing performance. Of course, it would have been nice to fight for the win, but we just didn’t have what it took to match them here this weekend. It’s definitely been the toughest Rallye Monte-Carlo of my career. There have been others that have been difficult, but I think the combination of everything made it a really challenging weekend. Even today there was no break from the trickiness, and to finish with good points on Sunday is good for us.”

Sébastien Ogier

“Honestly I’m happy to have this podium finish at the end of a very demanding rally. Of course, here at Rallye Monte-Carlo I have got used to being on the top step, but Oliver was fantastic this weekend and fully deserves his win; congratulations mate. It’s good for the championship to have someone new and fresh winning rallies, and I’m looking forward to fight with him more in the future. To lock out the top three for the team is another very positive start to the season, so I’m smiling today.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I’m happy to reach the finish of this rally. I think most of the drivers have never seen such a difficult Rallye Monte-Carlo for the whole event. It was very difficult every day, with mixed conditions that were changing a lot and were not easy to follow and anticipate. I can’t be too happy with this rally overall, but at least we could finish and score some points. We have some things to look at to see why I was struggling sometimes, but the next rally in Sweden is totally different and I’m looking forward to it.”

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)

“This was probably the most difficult rally I’ve ever done. We were trying to be patient and not take unnecessary risks. I think it was going well in terms of gaining experience until the final day; there was full snow at the top of the Col de Turini and then on the downhill, there was a drier asphalt place where I accelerated more than necessary because there was grip, then when I braked there was black ice. I locked up and stalled the engine and couldn’t stop the car. That was a disappointing finish, but I think there are positives to take away and good progress compared to this event last year.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“Considering where we were on Friday with our electrical issues, I am happy to be finishing fourth overall. With the time gained on each car, I have only one regret, which is the eight tenths against Seb. I’m sure I could have gained eight tenths! The road was evolving so much, which was exactly the same last year. We scored 17 points, which is just one less than Ogier, so that is quite positive. We need to work on our tarmac performance, but I’m confident that on the other surfaces we can continue to improve our results. We saw in Japan last year that we made a big step forward with the car, and I was satisfied until it rained – we were third and doing some good times.”

Thierry Neuville

“For me personally it was the most difficult Rallye Monte-Carlo I have faced; in terms of conditions, we have seen a bit of everything. Across all four days it was icy, but not having the feeling in the car made it so much more difficult than what it could have been. I lost control many times. It wasn’t an enjoyable weekend, and obviously ended in disappointment for us, although we made some improvements over the four days. If the feeling is there and I can get the car working better with the tyres, then we can get much closer than we are at the moment.”

Hayden Paddon

“I wouldn’t classify this weekend as a sterling job, but we got to the finish and that was our main objective. I knew it was going to be a big learning process, but the conditions made that a lot harder than what it should have been. It was tough – especially in terms of the conditions, which were 100% tougher than I expected. However, we had some good split times, sometimes we were less than a second away from our team-mates, so there’s a few positives to take away, but we needed to consistently gather more over the weekend.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Jon Armstrong

“A proper baptism of fire for our first WRC event in the Rally1 car, we were happy to show some good pace throughout the weekend but ultimately wanted to get a solid result which we didn’t manage to do on this occasion.

“The conditions were crazy; a proper challenge and we are already looking forward to a new challenge in Sweden.”

Josh McErlean

“It was a really tough Rallye Monte-Carlo for me personally, and not the result I wanted to start the season with. Monte is an event that can catch anyone out, and this weekend certainly tested me. Despite that, the support from M-Sport and the team never wavered, and there are still positives to take away. I’ll take the lessons on board, reset, and come back determined to show what we’re capable of.”

Grégoire Munster

“Even though it didn’t start well with an issue on Thursday, Friday and Saturday were good for us, with some fifth and fourth-fastest stage times. We had a few punctures, but without those I think we could have fought for a strong result. “We were climbing back up the overall standings after passing Paddon and Katsuta on Saturday, and we were hoping to gain more on Sunday. Unfortunately, we didn’t even make it to the first stage due to a mechanical issue. That’s really disappointing, because I don’t know when I will drive a Rally1 car again, so I would have liked to finish on a high. “Still, we showed some good things, and I hope we’ll get another opportunity in the future.”

Romet Jürgenson

“I think this was a really good learning rally for us. We experienced almost every possible condition Monte-Carlo can throw at you, so coming here was a good investment.

“We didn’t start especially fast, as we were trying to understand how to drive in these conditions, but as the rally went on we began to get more comfortable, and from SS12 onwards I think we showed some really good pace.

“It was unfortunate to have the issue we did, but overall, we can be very happy with the event. I’m looking forward to Sweden, where I already have more experience and we can push for a strong result.”

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings 
After round 1

1	O. Solberg	30
2	E. Evans	26
3	S. Ogier	18
4	A. Fourmaux	17
5	T. Neuville	10
6	L. Rossel	8
7	T. Katsuta	6
8	Y. Rossel	6
9	R. Daprà	4
10	A. Pelamourgues	2

 

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 1

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	59
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	35
3	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	0
=	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2	0

Summary

What a remarkable rally – the weather really delivered the most amazing conditions which had not been seen for many years. There was snow on every single stage apart from the incredibly wet Monaco stage which saw the rain get heavier and heavier. A true classic in that respect.

 

What about the crews then? Well, it was an amazing drive from Oliver and Elliott to take their first Rallye Monte-Carlo win. Once they took the lead on Thursday evening’s second stage by 31 seconds, they were never headed again. There were a few errors on each day but not enough to cause them to lose the lead. It was a well-deserved victory, and they now lead the world championship.

 

For Elfyn and Scott, they faced the most tricky conditions and showed remarkable pace as well to gap their champion teammates to a second-place finish. Taking a number of stage wins including the powerstage shows that this season has started in a great way just like last year.

 

Finally for Seb and Vincent another podium finish in this rally which they have had so much success was incredibly good result. What was surprising was the fact that Seb had no confidence on the snow-covered sections. There were some flashes of pace on the mixed condition stages with the slush and ice.

 

The next round will be Rally Sweden over the dates of the 12 to 15 February.

Coming into the second full day of action and the third day of the rally, Oliver Solberg and his co-driver Elliott Edmondson led the event from Elfyn and Scott by a minute and eight seconds, whilst Seb and Vincent were a further six and a half seconds behind and holding third.

Overnight the snow had fallen and the stages plus the landscape around them were covered in a blanket of snow and the snow had frozen on the top of the road, leaving a nice hard base for the studded tyres to bite into. Josh and Eoin would open the road throughout the day with the overnight leaders, Oliver and Elliott would be the last Rally1 crew to complete each stage, giving them the best conditions.

Into the action then with SS10 La Bréole / Bellaffaire 1 and it was a proper long stage to begin the day’s action. The stage was fully covered in snow and would be super tricky. Seb would take the stage win from Elfyn by three and a half seconds and Takamoto was third. Oliver took it easy after not getting his studded tyres into the right condition to work and gave away twenty and a half seconds to his teammates.

Next up was SS11 Vaumeilh / Claret 2 and in this stage there were some sections of the stage which had snow and some where there was ice and some slush as well. It was a really tricky stage which saw Oliver set the pace from one Rally2 crew and one Rally3 crew, those being Yohan in his Lancia Ypsilon and Matteo in his Ford Fiesta. Elfyn set the fourth best time and with Seb only eighth fastest the gap to Elfyn grew a little.

Onto the penultimate stage then, SS12 La Bréole / Bellaffaire 2 and the snow was melting due to the temperature rising just enough to turn into slush making the conditions very tricky. Seb beat the time set by Adrien but there was drama for a number of drivers. Greg had a spin at the top of the col and Sami went off the road and whilst attempting to get back on the stage he hit a tree. Hayden went off the road and had some help regaining the road, losing over four minutes. Elfyn beat Seb’s time, going sixteen seconds faster. Coming through the stage came Oliver and he had a high pace but as he came to the end of the stage he lost control spinning off. He got back to the road and completed the stage and remarkably won the stage by 1.9 seconds.

The final stage then of the day was held in Monaco using part of the racetrack, SS13, Monaco Circuit. Adrien set the pace from Takamoto whilst Thierry was third. The stage was incredibly wet and with the rain getting increasingly heavier. Oliver would only set the eleventh best time ten seconds slower than Adrien’s best fastest time.

 

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.

 

Classification after Day Three

1	O. Solberg	E. Edmondson	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	3:16:34.1
2	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+59.3
3	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+1:25.3
4	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+6:02.9
5	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+7:23.0
6	J. Armstrong	S. Byrne	Ford Puma Rally1	+10:03.9
7	L. Rossel	G. Mercoiret	Citroën C3	+10:57.7
8	G. Munster	L. Louka	Ford Puma Rally1	+11:29.3
9	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+11:36.9
10	R. Daprà	L. Guglielmetti	Škoda Fabia RS	+12:25.6

 

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been another solid day. I think we had all the action and conditions possible again. Tried to make it a day of survival, but just touched the slush in SS12 and ended up in the ditch and somehow got it up into the field and back out again. I don’t know how I did it and went on to still win the stage, but you need a bit of luck sometimes. The super special was very cool but with all the rain I just backed off. It’s incredible to still be leading by around a minute, but there’s still one day to go and I’m sure it will be another hard day.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been very tough again today. The first stage this morning was very icy with very low grip the whole way through, and the conditions in the second one were very inconsistent. The ice was melting in places come the afternoon, creating very slushy conditions, and it was difficult to control the car. The heavy rain also made the Monaco super special not as straightforward as it might have been, so I was happy to get through it. We’re still expecting more difficult conditions tomorrow, so the rally won’t be over until it’s over.”

Sébastien Ogier

“Today has been yet another challenging day, like everyone has been on this rally. A lot of snow this morning, a lot of wet snow this afternoon, which was close to undriveable from my perspective, and then heavy rain tonight in Monaco. I’m just happy to finish the day still with a podium position, and a lockout for the team for the moment. Now the plan is to try and secure this result tomorrow.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“We’ve had more very difficult conditions today, but I felt much better with the car. It was very icy in the morning and then it was melting and becoming slushy in the afternoon. Then a huge amount of rain in Monaco for the super special. That wasn’t easy, but it was amazing to see so many people watching us and it was really cool for me to drive here. We have one more day to go and we’ll try our best to keep catching up places; that’s our target.”

Sami Pajari

“It has not been the start to the season we wanted. From the first day already, it went in a difficult way, and then we just wanted to get all the experience possible for the future. Unfortunately, we made a mistake in SS10 and we got caught on the snowbank. The conditions were tricky and not many drivers got through that stage without issues, but I’m sorry for the team and the fans. Now we just need to focus on what we need to improve and keep our heads up and I’m sure we will do much better in Sweden.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“Today has been quite an amazing day. More very challenging stages, but the snow this morning was beautiful and really nice to drive. When it was full snow, it was fun, but as soon as you get the slush, ruts, lines and so on, it becomes very tricky. I did my best to get some good confidence in the car; it’s still not really there yet, and we are struggling a little bit, but that’s part of the game in rallying. I wanted to do a good time in Monaco, and we’ve set the fastest, so I can be pleased at least we’ve got one stage win!”

Thierry Neuville

“It was good to end the day in Monaco – huge congratulations to the organisers on the super special stage. We need to do more of this, bringing rallying to the people. It’s a huge success tonight with full crowds, despite the heavy rain! It’s been a great show. I’m happy today is over and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Our focus will be on getting safely through the stages. I think it will be potentially the toughest day so far, as there is no margin for error on those roads, so I think there is still a lot that could happen. This rally is far from over.”

Hayden Paddon

“The whole rally has been an adventure, and we once again had tricky conditions today and really struggled. I tried a different driving technique on the first pass, which didn’t work, and then on the on SS12 the conditions were pretty treacherous, and a number of things caught us out. At least we end the day safely in Monaco. It’s very cool to be able to drive a Rally1 car around here, and it’s great to bring the sport to the people – especially at an iconic Formula 1 street circuit with all this heritage and these spectators. You have to remind yourself how lucky you are to race on the roads of Monaco.”

 

Sunday

The final day will see the crews tackle almost 72km’s over four stages. Can Oliver keep the lead or will there be a change?

The action got underway with three stages on Thursday evening. Seb and Vincent would open the road as the reigning world champions.

Thursday’s evening stages

First up then was SS1 Toudon / Saint-Antonin and Elfyn was setting the pace from new full-time teammate Oliver who was 5.6 seconds behind and Seb a further 6.4 further back. Best of the Hyundai drivers was Adrien who was almost twenty seconds behind Elfyn and in fourth, whilst Jon making his debut in the Puma was in sixth.

Into SS2 Esclangon / Seyne-les-Alpes and this stage had it all to be honest; Snow and ice over a large part of the stage near the top as the road climbed to the top of the col. Seb was really finding it hard to keep his pace high, particularly on the snowy sections in the tight corners. Making it even more tricky was the fact it was still snowing a little as well. Meanwhile behind him Elfyn was able to maintain a higher pace using higher gears and was seriously quick over the champion setting a pace of almost forty seconds faster and ten positions between them. However, there was one driver who even faster and that was Oliver who was a full thirty-one seconds faster than Elfyn, with Jon third fastest. The top three were now Oliver, Elfyn and Jon. Seb lost two positions, falling to fifth overall and a full minute and a quarter away from the new leader.

The final stage then of this first evening of action with SS3 Vaumeilh / Claret 1 and this was a different kind of challenge compared to the first stages. As the first crews made their way through the fog was not too bad, but it was clear that it was getting worse as Seb was fastest from Oliver by seven seconds, yet Elfyn who was only the second car on the road was over twenty-five seconds slower. Jon was one of the drivers who had the worst of the conditions as he went off the road. He would be one of the drivers given a notional time as the stage was red flagged. The onboard cameras would reveal how bad it was as the road was pretty much impossible to see.

Let’s hear from the crews then after these three stages.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been an absolutely incredible start. The conditions have been crazy: every stage was different; every kilometre was different. Sometimes there was a bit of risk, and sometimes I tried to back off and manage. It’s been challenging but good fun. I have a good feeling in the car and everything is working really with the team. To be in this position is amazing – I never expected it and it was never the goal to come here and be leading the rally. There’s still a lot to learn and I’ll just keep doing my best.”

 

Elfyn Evans

“We had a good clean start in the first stage this afternoon. The grip was quite low, but I just tried to be as smooth as you can be with a mix of studded and slick tyres on the car, and it went fine. Conditions in SS2 were very bad, with no grip at all, so that wasn’t easy. Then in SS3 I couldn’t even see the road in some places. Overall, we can be reasonably happy with our start but it’s also very frustrating to give away time in a situation like that when you’ve worked so hard to earn it.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s been a more-than-challenging start to the rally, and I’m happy to be back in service tonight. On the first stage I was maybe a bit too cautious, but it was still a decent start. The big-time loss came for us on the next stage with the slush on top of the surface, which was just undriveable for us. There was not much we could have done, and it cost us a lot of time. The last stage was also very demanding with the fog, but it looks like we managed to get through better than the others.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I can’t be very happy with my driving and my stage times so far, but I’m very happy to get through such crazy conditions, with rain and snow and fog – a bit of everything really. The time gap is not ideal and not what I would wanted at this stage, but there is still a long way to go and we know that on this rally, anything can happen. So, I will just keep going and do my best.”

Sami Pajari

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have the start to the season that we wanted tonight. In SS2 we got caught out on an icy bridge, and the left-rear wheel hit the barrier. It’s disappointing but at least both Marko and I are OK. I’m sure that the team will be able to fix the car and we have tonight to reset and come back stronger tomorrow.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“I don’t think I have ever seen as much fog in a stage as I did on SS3 tonight – very tough conditions out there. I struggled with confidence initially; I was able to build that up a bit more throughout the run, but when you don’t have the right feeling it still doesn’t feel good. I put two wheels in the ditch on SS2 to avoid a wall, so I wanted to make it as soft as possible to avoid hitting it. We need to determine what’s going on with the tyres, I don’t understand how we can build and then lose grip so easily.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“I didn’t have a great feeling on the first stage, but we took some steps to improve that for SS2. The second stage was tricky with the snow – we had a spin but didn’t lose too much time – and then on the third stage we had the fog and the smoke from the fireworks. I had to stop in the middle of the road, and I couldn’t see anything, so I thought the hairpin was already there, but it wasn’t, and I ended up in a field. I had to drive very slowly to recover, and it was just crazy. I hope we can get some time back because of the red flag.”

Hayden Paddon

“I’m happy to get through tonight safely, they were three crazy stages for different reasons. We now need to press the reset button and make some changes to feel at one with the car. At the moment I have no feeling at all. Today was the first time I’ve driven the car in wet conditions, so there’s a lot of exploring to do, and that’s made worse when you’re already struggling, and you don’t want to push the car too much. I’m not one to complain about the fog, but that was extreme – it was the right call to red flag the last stage on safety alone.”

 

Friday stages

Onto the following morning with the first full day of morning and afternoon stages and first up was SS4 Laborel / Chauvac-Laux-Montaux 1. Oliver mastered the conditions and was fastest again from Thierry who was nineteen seconds behind, whilst Elfyn was third a further six seconds back. Oliver’s lead was now a huge one minute and ten seconds over Elfyn whilst Seb was now a further thirty seconds behind in third. Jon remained the best of the Puma drivers, now holding fifth position.

Next up came SS5 Saint-Nazaire-le-Désert / La Motte-Chalancon 1 and Elfyn would set the pace in this one from Seb and Adrien, whilst the leader saw almost thirty seconds taken from his lead as he suffered a puncture. The gap to Elfyn who still held second overall came down to just under forty-four seconds. We did see a position change as Adrien moved ahead of Jon with the Frenchman now into fifth.

The final stage then of the morning and Oliver was again fastest from Thierry and Adrien. The stage conditions were suiting the Hyundai drivers better meaning they were closer to the pace near the front and even the returning Hayden setting the sixth fastest time.  Elfyn was fourth in this one and saw the gap to Oliver go back to over a minute again.

Onto the afternoon stages and SS7 Laborel / Chauvac-Laux-Montaux 2 was first up. Oliver was fastest but by a smaller margin of just under two seconds from Seb whilst Elfyn was third fastest. Clearly the Hyundai drivers really were finding this one tricky as Thierry was almost twenty seconds behind just in this one stage and he was now over two and a half minutes behind the rally leader.

Next up was SS8 Saint-Nazaire-le-Désert / La Motte-Chalancon 2, the penultimate stage of the day and Seb was fastest by sixteen seconds over Elfyn and Oliver third. Seb’s pace reduced the gap to Elfyn to eighteen seconds.

The final stage then of the day, SS9 La-Bâtie-des-Fontes / Aspremont 2. Seb was fastest again from Oliver by a little under ten seconds, whilst Elfyn a further 2.8 seconds back and saw the gap over Seb come down to six and a half seconds. Thierry had a nightmare stage with an off into a ditch and had to have help from the spectators to re-join. He fell behind his teammate Adrien, now a full minute behind and in fifth position. Jon completed the day in sixth position.

Let’s take a look at the top ten at the end of Friday and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day Two

1 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 2:11:13.1 2 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:08.4 3 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:14.9 4 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +5:05.2 5 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +6:05.3 6 J. Armstrong S. Byrne Ford Puma Rally1 +7:18.8 7 H. Paddon J. Kennard Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +7:42.1 8 L. Rossel G. Mercoiret Citroën C3 +8:27.5 9 E. Camilli T. De La Haye Škoda Fabia RS +9:07.1 10 N. Gryazin K. Aleksandrov Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 +9:08.8

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been another really incredible day and I’m very happy. The goal was to try and stay consistent and avoid problems. We did have one slow puncture, but the rest has been really good. This afternoon was more about trying to survive. In the first one we could still be fastest, and then when it got dark it was a bit too risky to push. There was also a lot of mud being further back on the road and having to do big cuts in those conditions for the first time with this car. So, there’s still a lot of learning going on, and still a crazy long way to go.”

Elfyn Evans

“We’ve had quite a lot of different conditions again today. It started off pretty icy in the first stage which was tricky, but we got through the morning loop pretty well without too much drama. The afternoon was then quite difficult; there was less ice and snow but more mud on the road and maybe I didn’t attack enough in the muddy cuts. We lost quite a bit of ground to Seb, who’s been doing a great job, so it’s close and exciting for tomorrow. With more difficult conditions to come, it looks like it will be a classic ‘Monte’ until the end.”

Sébastien Ogier

“This morning was tricky again for us with the slush on the road. Today we had two cars making a line for us, but the road was evolving and improving a lot behind us. This afternoon the conditions changed, and we managed to turn it around a bit. We didn’t have to go through any slush, but it was still very challenging with an incredible amount of mud on the road and a lot of water. It was probably getting worse for those behind and we could set some good times. It’s a nice fight now with Elfyn, and exciting for the rest of the rally.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Today was a bit of a disaster for me unfortunately. This morning we had two punctures, and in the afternoon I was caught out by some slush and then hit a bank and we lost the power steering after that. It was a big job with so many hairpins, but I’ve been training a lot and we managed to get through the day. Still, we have two days to go and I will try to reset and find some positives.”

Sami Pajari

“After the disappointment of yesterday we just want to learn all that we can over the rest of the event. We’ll keep on trying things and maximise what we can. We had super tricky conditions today, with many difficult tyre choices in the different conditions – something I’ve pretty much never experienced before. Steadily the pace has been getting better, but of course there is still room to improve.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“We had some issues this afternoon that we had to manage, crucially the handbrake. In all of the hairpin entrances I tried to go as wide as possible to get round them in one go, we had to go into reverse a couple of times which was very quick to engage. We’re in fourth now, so we will be patient and keep our eyes on having a trouble-free day tomorrow, as well as Super Sunday and Power Stage points when they matter most.”

Thierry Neuville

“Unfortunately, we made a mistake on the final stage today; we went into a corner a little bit too fast and got pulled into a ditch with no way out. I think we should have chosen to run the studded tyres, as we had two in the car, because there was a little bit more ice than we initially expected after speaking with our gravel crew. At the moment we’re still fighting with ourselves, but the rally is long, and we still have two days to go. We need to take what we can from here, and that’s all we can do at the moment.”

Hayden Paddon

“Today was another tough day. There were some tricky conditions, particularly on the second pass with some pretty polluted roads. We’re still trying to get fully comfortable in the car while maintaining our position and pushing through – which actually makes it harder to drive. We’re navigating that balance and trying to learn as much as we can about the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 car.”

 

Saturday

The third day of action will see the crews tackle a shorter day of 77km’s over four stages, two of which will be the huge just under 30km stage which open the day and finish the day before the crews head to Monaco for a short blast around the streets.

 

Who will hold the lead?

After what seems to have been a really short break from competition it’s time for the teams to begin the battle for this years championship titles. Although two world championship crews retired from the championship after the season closing round last year, we still have two champions from Toyota and Hyundai taking to the start ramp in Monte Carlo.

This year’s event sees four days of action which the event takes place over. This year sees the crew tackle 339km’s over seventeen stages, the first three of which will be on Thursday evening. Then on Friday there are six stages including a double run of a 28km stage. Saturday sees four stages with the last being a run around the Monaco race circuit. The last day sees four stages with the power stage being the longest of the day at 23km’s.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“After a short turnaround like always, I’m looking forward to the new season and to be hopefully fighting at the sharp end. I’m sure it’s going to be a competitive year and we will have to be at our best. There’s quite a lot of continuity in terms of the car and the tyres, and although we finished last season in a pretty good place, the team is always working to find improvements and that bit more performance that we as drivers are always asking for. Rallye Monte-Carlo is always a bit of an unknown in the sense that you cannot be sure beforehand what conditions you will face. It’s a huge challenge and it’s all about adapting as best as you can during the event.”

 

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s been nice to have some time to celebrate and appreciate what we achieved last year, but the focus is already on the new season when everyone starts again from zero. Even though I won’t be driving on every rally just as in the last few seasons, it’s still going to be quite an intense schedule. We will try to make the best of it together with this great team, which is always pushing hard to keep improving every year. As with every year, it’s exciting for me to start Rallye Monte-Carlo. It’s the rally that means the most to me and the one that made me dream, so it was a proud moment to win it for a 10th time last year. The target will be the same this time, but it never gets any easier.”

Oliver Solberg

“It’s a dream moment to be starting the new season as a Toyota Rally1 driver. I don’t have clear expectations in terms of results this year; I just want to do my job to the best of my ability and see how it goes. While I know the car quite well on gravel, I feel I still have some learning to do on asphalt. On this surface you feel a bigger difference from Rally2 to Rally1 machinery in terms of speed, but we’ve had some good testing and I have a very good feeling in the car. Rallye Monte-Carlo is an event that you just have to love, even if it’s really tricky and probably the most difficult rally of the year. It’s always a special experience and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s always special to be starting a new season in Monte Carlo. The conditions are some of the trickiest we face during the season, so the feeling beforehand can be quite mixed: you’re looking forward to it, but at the same time you never know what will happen. We need to have good communication with our route note crews, who are giving us the latest information about the conditions, which can change very quickly. In our pre-event test, we had ice and snow, but it was melting, so we could also see how the car and tyres were working on wet asphalt, and I could feel some good progress. My target this year is to deliver more results and I’m ready to give my best.”

Sami Pajari

“It’s an exciting feeling to be starting my second season with the Rally1 car. Last year was pretty much all about learning, as in most of the rallies it was my first time there with this car. Still, in the second half of the year things were clearly going better and better, and now I’m feeling much more ready to be competitive. The car is pretty much the same as last year, as are the tyres, and I feel much more confident in understanding what it’s capable of. Rallye Monte-Carlo is maybe the most challenging event of the season with the chance for a big range of different conditions, but I hope to have a good feeling and enjoy it.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“Rallye Monte-Carlo is always a tough event to start the season with, but there’s always a lot of excitement around it. There are new challenges, a new opportunity for a good season, and the chance to win the rally that everybody wants to win. To have a good event you need to trust the car; it has to be easy to drive in all kinds of conditions, and if you trust that the car is predictable, it makes your life much easier. It’s tough to predict the conditions now, but we can say for sure that we will have a mix of drier and icier sections. We’ve won it twice, and we always say, “there’s never two without three”, so hopefully we can be right up there and stand on the top step at the end of the rally.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“I’m very excited to be returning to Rallye Monte-Carlo in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 car. It’s infamous because of the mixed conditions we always face, and the intensity of the event is unique. It marks the start of the season, so being back in the car is always something special and I’m really looking forward to it. I always try to make sure I have an easy car in Monte Carlo. It needs to be drivable in all the conditions we could face, which means snow, ice, rain and dry conditions. It’s been snowing a lot in the north Alps, so I think we will definitely have some snow, even if it’s just on the side of the roads. Our target is to win the rally – if there’s one to win, it’s this one.”

Hayden Paddon

“There’s definitely a mix of nerves and excitement ahead of Rallye Monte-Carlo, but I’m sure once we get into it those nerves will settle. It’s the most challenging event of the season, so it’s a daunting prospect, but I’m excited to drive a very cool car at such a historic event. We did a test at Hyundai Motorsport’s new base to get some proper mileage in the car so we can adapt and learn a bit more about the Hyundai i20 N Rally1. I don’t think anyone truly knows what to expect from the surface and weather conditions until we get there – that’s the unpredictability of Monte Carlo – so we have to prepare for every possibility. Our goal is for us to finish, and we’ll be keeping it clean to support Thierry and Adrien in their fight at the front.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“It’s great to be back for a second year with M-Sport, a lot has changed since this time last year when we were preparing for Monte. It’s fantastic to be back with the team and everyone involved. The off-season has been busy getting everything ready and properly prepared, and Monte-Carlo is always an exciting way to kick off the season with the conditions, tyre choices and the inevitable nerves! We feel much more prepared than this time last year and our focus is on getting the season off to a solid start.”

Jon Armstrong

“I’m really looking forward to Rally Monte Carlo and getting underway with the Puma Rally1 for the first time with M-Sport. There’s a lot to learn for us – Monte Carlo’s unique conditions, the changeable weather, and the tyre choices. The tyres are brand new for us too, so there’s been a good bit of learning with the Hankook package.

“Our pre-event testing was really valuable, as we experienced a wide range of conditions. It was a big pleasure to drive the Puma properly for the first time and I’m really enjoying the car. We had one day with mixed tarmac, mud and icy sections, and another day on full snow, so we were able to test all the tyres in almost every scenario – including finding out the hard way how little grip slicks have on ice!

“Overall, I’m enjoying the process and there’s plenty more to come as we build experience and kilometres behind the wheel. Shane and I are very grateful for the opportunity and excited to get started at Rallye Monte-Carlo. We’ll see where we are after the first day and a half, take it from there, and hopefully show progress over the rally. I’m really looking forward to the season ahead.”

 

Grégoire Munster

“Looking forward to being at the start of Rallye Monte-Carlo, it’s probably my favourite event on the WRC calendar. It’s also the rally where I took my first stage win with the Puma, so I have a lot of good memories here.

“We were quite competitive here in 2025, we were fourth overall on Friday, so I’m looking to show some similar pace this year. Obviously, our preparation will be a bit different from usual as we haven’t been able to go testing. But I go to Monte with no pressure, it’s just a good opportunity to get a good result and I want to enjoy it to the fullest. I don’t know when my next outing will be, so I just want to enjoy it and be as fast as possible.”

 

Summary

What an interesting rally in prospect then. We have a good mix of the usual suspects and some returning talent with Hayden and John returning. Then we have some new faces at the top as Jon and Shane make their debut at the top level of the rallying world. For them it will be a case of getting through the stages on the first runs and then seeing how they can improve in the second runs.

 

Who can challenge Seb and Vincent at the top to take victory this weekend. Well, Elfyn and Scott will fancy their chances this year and starting near the front of the field will certainly help their chances.

 

Of course, Thierry and Martijn will want to repeat their win like they had at the start of 2024 and get their challenge underway.

Their teammates Adrien and Alex though will fancy their chances and after taking a podium last year with third, perhaps they will be the leading Hyundai crew at the end?

It will be interesting to see how Josh and Eoin get on this year with the experience gained from 2025. They took seventh overall last year in the rally. What could they deliver for M-Sport this year? Also, a surprise returning crew are Greg and Louis who will be in a Puma. They took a stage win last year before retiring from the event. Can they get a decent result and then perhaps secure more drives throughout the season?

One last thing to mention is the manufacturer who are one of the most successful in the history of this championship as Lancia make their return with their Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale. Seven of these cars will make their way over the start ramp.

We came then to the final day of the round and with just under 66km’s over three stages this championship was not decided by any means. Ott and Martin would return to the action and open the road throughout the final day.

Onto the action with the SS15 Thabhan 1 – 16.29 km and Adrien was fastest from Kalle and Thierry. Seb and Elfyn made it through safely setting the fourth and fifth fastest time respectively with just a tenth of a second separating them. Thierry’s pace took him ahead of Martins after the Latvian was sixth fastest and almost ten seconds slower, but the gap remained close with just two seconds between them.

Next up was SS16 Asfan – 33.28 km and it was a strong run by Seb who was fastest from Thierry and Sami. Two crews suffered punctures in this one with Kalle and Martins being those to have that problem. The Latvian Puma crew stopped to change the tyre and then continued, before getting a second puncture before completing the stage. Unfortunately, Adrien and Alex were caught in their dust trail and lost time. They would be given this time back later and regained second place before the final stage. There was huge drama for Takamoto who lost third overall after a soft roll over. The windscreen was quite broken on the Yaris, but they did manage to finish the stage. The result of this now meant that Seb was now in the podium positions. This gave him and Vincent an even better chance to take the title given that Elfyn was in sixth place after Kalle fell behind him.

After a break in the action the crews lined up for the final stage, SS17 Thabhan 2[Power Stage]. Ott set the early pace and the other cars completed the stage, not getting anywhere near the time the Estonian set. Then came Elfyn and Scott who on each split were clearly getting the hammer down and at each split the gap to Ott and Martins time was getting bigger and they crossed the line almost ten seconds faster. Seb and Vincent came through and was second fastest and with that secured third overall. This meant they’d secured the 2025 crown, Seb’s ninth and Vincent’s first. Elfyn and Scott had done everything they could to secure the championship, and this was the fifth time they’d come second in the title fight.

Let’s take a look at the final standings for the rally and hear from the drivers.

Final Overall Classification – Rally Saudi Arabia

1 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 3:21:17.3 2 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +54.7 3 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:03.3 4 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:51.7 5 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:59.9 6 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +3:43.9 7 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +5:31.5 8 G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 +7:07.2 9 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +8:30.5 10 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +10:00.6

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“It’s been a long wait since the last victory, but it’s good to be back on the top step, especially at the end of the season after a tough year. We’re super happy, and of course getting the 1-2 is very important for the team – they have all been working hard. The next few weeks are the most important to help us be contenders again in 2026. We need to bring some more upgrades and improvements to the car as well as develop the structure within the team. We have learnt a lot about the evolution of the car recently, and now we need to push to put those learnings into performance.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“If you remove our penalty, I’m really pleased with how we managed this rally. We made the decision to take softs at the beginning, against the decision of the others, and we made the right choice in doing that. We were managing the pressure of the others catching up with us, and I’m really pleased we were able to and have that self-control inside of the car. We are the unofficial winners! The speed is there, the management is there and so is the reliability for us, so these are the things I need to keep up my motivation for next year – there is no reason to doubt the steps we have taken forward this year.”

Ott Tänak

“Today wasn’t the greatest day to open the road. It’s been demanding, but we still tried to have good rhythm and drive. These cars are some of the best things in motorsport at the moment, they’re really fun to drive and I’m sure really fun to watch from the outside too. I tried to enjoy this today, and I really enjoyed it. Let’s see what the future brings. I don’t know how much things are going to change but let’s see what the sport does and where it goes. I’m not turning my back on rallying; it’s given me so much and I’m very grateful for that.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“What a fight it’s been with Elfyn and Scott. A great champion needs great opponents, and they have been super strong and pushing us to the limits until the very last stage of the year. Well done to them, to Kalle and Jonne also, and to the whole team. It’s been such a successful season, and I’m proud and happy to be part of this family. I never thought that this moment of a ninth title would come after I decided to make a change and spend more time with my family. It’s thanks to having the chance to work with this fantastic team and finding a young co-driver in Vincent who’s doing an amazing job alongside me, bringing such positive energy and making me feel younger. Together we’ve achieved great things and I’m very happy to welcome him to the world champions’ club.”

Sami Pajari

“We came here with a mission to take the first win and it was going really well for a lot of the rally. It’s disappointing what happened yesterday afternoon which meant we couldn’t have an even better result, but I’m super happy with the performance that we did here this week on a new and difficult rally. After the podium in Japan, we end this first season with quite a nice feeling, and I’m really grateful to the team for the great job they are doing to help us get faster and stronger. It feels promising for next year and I’m looking forward to that.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It was good to reach the finish of this rally but today could have been better. We were fighting for the podium until one slightly optimistic pacenote in the penultimate stage. We went off and when trying to come back to the road, we dug into the very soft sand, and it caused us to roll. It’s such a pity because we were being patient all weekend and then made this small mistake, but this is rallying. I’m sorry to the team but I want to thank them for the massive support they gave me this year, and I will work hard to come back stronger.”

Elfyn Evans

“I think we did what we could this weekend. The tyre change on Friday didn’t help but that’s been the name of the game this week and everyone’s had their fair share of issues. I didn’t have a great run through the middle stage – I’ve been struggling a bit in the more sandy sections this weekend – and many others had problems which promoted Seb up the leaderboard. It wasn’t to be for us, but Seb and Vincent have been amazing all year and deserve this title. I’m a competitor and I always want more, but it’s been a good season with a fantastic team behind us, pushing us all the way: thank you to everyone for the amazing job.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“Congratulations to Seb and Vincent on the title: they fully deserve it; they have been very good this year. For us it was not really the last rally that we wanted but we knew that it would be tough. Still, the feeling is good. Of course, it’s sad to be leaving the sport and the people who have been the biggest part of my life, but I can also be super proud of what we’ve achieved: it has been quite amazing. I have so many people to thank but first of all to Jonne, we’ve had such good times together, great results but also a lot of fun. And a special thanks to Toyota and everyone in the team for these great years together.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Grégoire Munster

“Saudi was a new experience for us – hot, rough, and full of different terrains to tackle. We had everything from very fast sections to technical stages, and others with deep sand and ruts that required a completely different driving style. I’m glad we made it through without major issues. The pace wasn’t exactly where we wanted it to be, but finishing eighth overall and scoring some points is a solid result. A big thank you to the whole team for their efforts. It’s been a long and tough season with plenty of positives, and it’s good to be able to reflect on that.”

Josh McErlean

“It’s been a challenging rally for us. A puncture on the first stage meant we were doing road cleaning on the following days, which wasn’t ideal. But it’s been an incredible experience to be here for Saudi’s first WRC event, seeing these fantastic desert stages. To still finish in the top ten despite the number of punctures is a testament to the team. Huge credit to everyone involved, including the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy, John Coyne, and Eoin on the pacenotes. Now we look forward to what comes next.”

Nasser Al-Attiya

“I’m really happy to compete here in the Rally1 car, I’d like to say a big thank you to M-Sport for making this possible. It wasn’t easy to find a car, and after one call to Malcolm, suddenly we had a car ready. It’s amazing to be here and compete at this level – normally I come and compete in the Rally2 car, but experiencing these stages in a Rally1 is completely different. I’m really happy with the experience and will definitely aim to do it again next year.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“Well, I think there is some relief for me and Renārs that we have the pace, and that we can do things in the right way. I am happy with what we have shown together with the team after all the hard work that has been put in. It was a pleasure to be back.”

Oliver Solberg

“This rally brings a new vision to the World Rally Championship – it brings us back to the Middle East, where we haven’t been for such a long time. I can understand the thinking for the guys fighting for the championship, it’s a really tough one with some very tricky terrain and a lot of rocks – it’s kind of a small Dakar! But, for me, the championship needs this sort of mix of rallies. I had a great week here in Saudi.

“And, like I said earlier, this has been the most fantastic season. I have so many people to thank and the first one has to be Elliott. We have been on this journey together, he’s right beside me in the car and I couldn’t have a better co-driver and friend. Of course, everybody at TOYOTA and Printsport, I can’t thank them all enough – the same with Monster Energy and all of our partners. And then to my family, to my fiancée Chloe and my mom and dad and everybody, thank you. We did it.”

Summary

How to sum up this rally and the title win for Seb and Vincent. Well, first of all I’m going to discuss the top three in the rally.

Thierry and Martijn finally took a win in their title defence year. It was a controlled drive from the pair. Thierry was worried they were not pushing hard enough, but it was enough to deliver them victory in what was a really tough event.

Adrien and Alex came the closest they’d ever come to their first victory and to be honest a win they deserved to take. They were given a one-minute penalty and ultimately finished just under a minute behind their teammates.

Finally, Seb and Vincent took third place and with that this years world championship. They were fastest over the three stages on the final day, giving them the points, which delivered the championship. There were only four points in the end which separated them and their teammates Elfyn and Scott. That’s how close it was in the end.

I shall be writing a review of the battle between the three championship protagonists.

 

Here’s the final points standings for 2025.

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 14

1 S. Ogier 293 2 E. Evans 289 3 K. Rovanperä 256 4 O. Tänak 216 5 T. Neuville 194 6 T. Katsuta 122 7 A. Fourmaux 115 8 S. Pajari 107 9 O. Solberg 71 10 G. Munster 40

 

 

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 14

1 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 735 2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 511 3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 205 4 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2 158

Onto the second day then of the event and the crews had just over 130km’s over six stages. Nasser would open the road throughout the day, whilst championship leader Elfyn would be the fourth driver into the stages. Adrien as the overnight leader would be the final driver from the top class to start giving them a bit of an advantage perhaps with the road conditions.

First up then was SS9 Alghullah 1 – 11.69 km and Adrien was fastest from Sami and Martins. Best of the rest was Ott who was fourth fastest and 18 seconds from the lead. For the three championship challengers it was Kalle who made the best time but was only half a second faster than Seb, the gap between them over thirty seconds.

Onto the longest stage then of the day, SS10 Um Al Jerem 1 – 30.58 km and Ott was fastest from Martins and Sami. The Latvian duo moved past Sami and back into second overall and were now just over four seconds away from Adrien and the lead. Kalle and Elfyn were both quicker than Seb in this one with the Finn moving closer to the Frenchman.

The final morning stage then SS11 Wadi Almatwi 1 – 24.90 km and Ott was fastest again from Martins and Sami. The rally leader, Adrien was fourth and saw his lead cut to a little under three seconds. Meanwhile there was drama for the championship leaders who lost over two minutes after having to stop for a puncture near the start of the stage. They fell one position to tenth, now over ten seconds behind Greg.

Into the afternoon stages SS12 Alghullah 2 – 11.69 km and Ott made it three stage wins in a row setting the pace from Martins and Adrien. Once again, Martins moved a little closer to Adrien with the gap now under two seconds. Ott’s pace took him onto the same overall time as Sami in fourth. Elfyn closed on Greg for ninth the gap now under sixth seconds.

Next it was back to the SS13 Um Al Jerem 2 – 30.58 km and Martins took the stage win from Thierry and Takamoto. This was a brilliant run by the M-Sport crew and took them back into the overall lead by over twenty-two seconds. The former leader, Adrien, had an overshoot at a junction and was only seventh fastest. Ott had drama as he suffered a puncture losing over a minute and a half. The Estonian duo dropped two positions as a result. Sami also had the same problem and fell five positions to eighth place as Elfyn moved up one place to ninth. The top three were now Martins, Adrien and Thierry, whilst Takamoto was now in fourth. Seb and Kalle also gain one position each moving into sixth and seventh respectively.

Time then for the final stage of the day, SS14 Wadi Almatwi 2 – 24.90 km and Kalle was fastest in this one from Thierry and Takamoto. There was drama for the top two as both Martins and Adrien suffered punctures which they did not stop to change. There were others who had punctures including Seb, Thierry, Greg, Takamoto and Ott. In fact, the Estonian had two punctures. They stopped to change the first before getting another later in the stage. The top three was Martins, Thierry and Takamoto. When the stage ended Adrien was holding the lead but was later was given a one-minute penalty for being early to the time control. This meant that the Frenchman was now in fourth, 57 seconds behind new leader Martins. There were changes in positions in the championship contenders as Kalle passed Seb and moved into fifth place, Seb now in sixth and Elfyn was now in eighth place. We lost Ott on the road section as there was suspension damage to his car and a decision was taken to retire the car after the double puncture.

Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day Two

1 M. Sesks R. Francis Ford Puma Rally1 2:43:20.1 2 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +3.4 3 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +41.5 4 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +57.6 5 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:12.6 6 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:12.8 7 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:34.8 8 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +3:52.6 9 G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 +6:13.4 10 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +7:26.7

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“It was a very tough day out there. We were pushed to our limits, and we had to somehow find a good approach to allow us to go fast and avoid the stones. This rally is a big lottery for everybody – you need to have a bit of luck here. We got punctures yesterday, and one front-right puncture on the last stage today but luckily not too far from the finish so we didn’t drop too much time. There’s room for more, so we’re going to try and find that tomorrow.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“I was really pleased with our performance today. I think we might have been able to push more, but we were playing with the balance of pushing or saving the car and the tyres and I think we managed that quite well. We came back here in the lead, with a small gap, ready to fight tomorrow – we were enjoying being in the battle with all the young guns, but now we are fourth after a time penalty for an early check-in. We’re not sure what happened, but at the moment I can only focus on myself and let the team investigate further.”

Ott Tänak

“We had a lot of punctures today; it is what it is but at least we tried. We want to get to the end of this rally, but hopefully there will still be a fight for the podium tomorrow we can follow. It’s been a proper lottery, and we didn’t have too good a weekend.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s good to be up to third overall tonight. We had some difficulties during the afternoon with the tyres, but we managed it without needing to stop on the stage, and this helped a lot to gain the positions. To have 42s to the lead is quite a big gap, but there’s still three stages to go and you never know what can happen, especially here with how tough this rally has been. We will just try to keep going like this tomorrow and avoid problems and see where we are at the end.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s been a long and tricky day. I tried to just be fast and avoid the trouble. The conditions were really tough already on the first pass; even with only four cars in front of us, we still had a lot of surprises and loose stones. The last stage of the loop was especially rough and that’s where everyone else started to get issues and we managed to make up some positions. The situation is still not in our favour but at least we are in the mix, and we will just try to enjoy our final day tomorrow and go for it.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s been a demanding day. I knew that Elfyn had stopped in the last stage of the morning and took that stage a bit more carefully because of that, but it didn’t really change much about the championship: we still had to try and stay ahead of Kalle. We anticipated that this last stage of the day would be the roughest one of the weekend and I tried to have a careful rhythm there but had this loss of tyre pressure at the end. At least we still have our destiny in our hands: tomorrow we hope to stay out of trouble and have to go for it.”

Sami Pajari

“It was a really close fight still today. I was expecting there would start to be some bigger time gaps, but everyone was pushing quite hard, and the margins were small. I still felt I was being clever in the places where I could see a risk of damaging the car or tyres, and in other sections I was doing all I can. Unfortunately, we had to stop and change the tyre in SS13. We were not the only ones to have such trouble, but we were chasing for our first victory and really in the fight. The pace was there, so it’s a big disappointment but of course we need to take the positives into the last day tomorrow.”

Elfyn Evans

“It wasn’t ideal what happened to us this morning. We got the tyre pressure alarm quite early in the third stage of the loop and with so far still to go we had to make the decision to stop and change it rather than try to drive on it. Thankfully we could make up some places this afternoon with others having issues and so it’s still quite open and it will all come down to tomorrow now. It’s pretty straightforward in a way: we just have to give it the best shot we can and see what happens.”

 

Oliver Solberg

Oliver said: “It’s been another good day. This rally has been such a cool challenge, it’s amazing to come somewhere new like this and to meet new people and new fans. And the roads are incredible, so tough, but so rewarding to drive.

“I was in the last stage this afternoon and all the way from the start line to the finish, across the mountains I could see this helicopter following us – it was HRH Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal with my fiancée Chloe and my mom and dad. It was super-cool, they were with me for the whole way and when I had a straight section, I had time to wave to them a little bit!

“Tomorrow is going to be another big day for Elliott [Edmondson, co-driver] and me. It’s the final day of the season with this fantastic Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 and with this fantastic Printsport team. I want to go out on a real high and win some more stages and really enjoy myself – but Elliott and I are still learning and taking more experience.”

 

Summary

Well, what a day. We had a number of changes of the leader plus punctures and a penalty for Adrien which gave Martins the overnight lead heading into the final day of the rally and the year.

The crews face almost 66m’s over three stages with a single run through the longest stage of the weekend which is 33km’s. What will we witness? Elfyn and Scott’s first crown or Seb and Vincent’s first championship as a crew and Seb’s ninth title? Or perhaps Kalle and Jonne will take it?

Will we also witness Martins and Renars first win at the top level and the first win for M-Sport since Ott and Martin won in Chile 2023?