Elfyn Evans takes Monte Carlo lead after opening WRC stage

Elfyn Evans takes Monte Carlo lead after opening WRC stage

22nd January 2026 0 By Kamron Kent

Toyota’s Elfyn Evans topped the first World Rally Championship stage of 2026 as the traditional curtain raiser, Rallye Monte Carlo, officially got underway. 

Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool

Evans became the rally leader as the Welshman pipped his 2025 title rival and teammate, Sebastien Ogier, to the top spot after the first test of the event. But, it was not a smooth start as the rain had fallen, as predicted, for the opening stage of Monte Carlo. 

All of the crews had put their wipers on a moderate speed to clear the rain. However, the weather was not the only issue as visibility was a slight problem due to the immediate fog. But the weather and visibility started to ease as the stage came to a close. 

The Toudon/Saint-Antonin 21.9km test opened up the 17-stage event with Toyota’s defending, nine-time world champion Sebastien Ogier leading the way ahead of teammate Evans and Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville. 

As he was first out on the road, Ogier and the nine-time world champ set the benchmark pace with a time of 16m 17.7s, but the 10-time Monte Carlo winner was immediately demoted by Evans, who went 12 seconds faster. 

Katsuta sets first top time of 2026 WRC season in Monte Shakedown

At the end of the stage, it was a Toyota 1-2-3 as Evans led the field after the first test of Monte, with teammates Oliver Solberg and Ogier occupying second and third, respectively. Adrien Fourmaux was the leading Hyundai, in fourth, separating the top three Toyotas from their teammate, Takamoto Katsuta, who rounded out the top five. 

Jon Armstrong, on his WRC debut for M-Sport Ford, found himself in sixth after his first Rally1 stage ahead of Gregoire Munster in eighth. The two Ford drivers were separated by just over three seconds. Nikolay Gryazin, Lancia, in the WRC2 classification, got himself amongst the WRC Rally1 contenders as the Lancia driver occupied seventh place. 

Neuville found himself behind by over 43.5 seconds from Evans’ best time, and down in ninth overall. The 2024 world champion claimed it was a confidence issue with the car when he arrived at the end of the stage. 

Toyota’s Sami Pajari, Hyundai’s Hayden Paddon and M-Sport’s Joshua McErlean completed the Rally1 entries in 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively. 

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Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

CategoryNews Rallying WRC

About the author

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

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