Elfyn Evans wins Rally Sweden to lead back-to-back Toyota 1-2-3
15th February 2026Toyota’s Elfyn Evans has taken the win at Rally Sweden, his first of the season, and now leads of the World Rally Championship.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool
At the same event of his first win of 2025, Evans once again secured the win in the wintry forests of Sweden as the Welshman controlled his way to victory in the snow-laden terrain.
As such, the Toyota driver has claimed the championship lead in the process, jumping over his teammate and Sweden’s own Oliver Solberg, who had led the championship after his WRC victory in Monte Carlo, last time out.
It marks the second consecutive time that Toyota has claimed back-to-back lockouts on the podium with Evans heading Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari, who finished second and third overall.
Evans had to fight for victory across the snowy conditions after he took over the lead on SS3, when Solberg made a costly mistake to drop him down the order, on Friday. He was then rivalled by Takamoto Katsuta, who had taken the overnight lead going into Saturday.
However, on Saturday morning, Evans regained the lead and did not let it go for the remainder of the weekend.
Securing the rally and Super Sunday win, and just missing out on the maximum Power Stage points (securing four of the five available), it means that Evans heads the championship table on 60 points*, 13pts more than his closest rival: Solberg.
It was also a strong performance from Toyota as the Japanese team claimed an impressive 1-2-3-4 finish at the end of the rally with Evans heading Katsuta, Pajari and Solberg, respectively.
Adrien Fourmaux was the leading driver for the next manufacturer in line, Hyundai, as he finished fifth ahead of returning driver Esapekka Lappi, in sixth, with Thierry Neuville completing the team’s line-up in seventh.
The 2024 world champion, Neuville, secured the maximum points of the Wolf Power Stage (5), pipping Evans by a tenth of a second on his run.
This left Jon Armstrong and Joshua McErlean to round out the Rally1 contenders inside the top 10, for M-Sport Ford, in eighth and ninth. Whilst Lorenzo Bertilli (Toyota) and Martins Sesks (M-Sport Ford) completed the Rally1 runners, down in 14th and 15th.
*Subject to the final classification
Read more WRC here:
- Evans on the cusp of first 2026 victory at Rally Sweden
- Takamoto Katsuta heads Rally Sweden ahead of Evans
- Evans takes Rally Sweden lead as Solberg sinks
- Oliver Solberg takes overnight lead of Rally Sweden
- Weather report: latest ahead of WRC Rally Sweden
- Entry List: WRC 2026 Rally Sweden
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