3 winners and 2 losers of Rally Sweden
17th February 2026Elfyn Evans secured the victory in Sweden to lead a Toyota 1-2-3 on the snow-laden terrain, and here are our winners and losers of the event.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool
Winner – Elfyn Evans
Evans secured his first win of the season and looked to be in control of the rally from Saturday onwards. Whilst there was a slight crack in the armour when he lost the lead to teammate and rally rival, Takamoto Katsuta, the Welshman regained his composure to take it back on Saturday.
He never faltered after that and controlled his way to victory on the snow.
Loser – Oliver Solberg
Toyota’s Oliver Solberg was probably one of the bigger losers of the event, with it being his home event. The Swede looked to continue his Monte Carlo form at the beginning of the rally, but on SS3, his rally became undone.
Fourth place, 25.6 seconds behind teammate Sami Pajari, was probably the best result Solberg was going to get in his first home event since returning to the top class.
Winner – Takamoto Katsuta
Katsuta is still in the hunt for his first-ever WRC victory, but he put in a strong performance last weekend to finish second in Sweden. The same 1-2 finish that occurred last year.
The Japanese star took the lead late on Friday afternoon to go into Saturday as the overnight leader. Whilst he quickly lost the lead to eventual winner Evans, it showed Katsuta is primed for a victory in the sport, and it will come eventually – he just needs to find it.
Loser – Martins Sesks
M-Sports Martins Sesks had a troubled weekend from the get-go after the Latvian suffered a double puncture on day two, eventually leading to his retirement. Whilst it was a question of tyre pressures, it did not help the Puma driver’s rally.
Eventually, Sesks, unable to truly recover, finished 35th overall – in Rally1 machinery – when the Rally came to an end on Sunday.
Winner – Sami Pajari
Pajari has now taken his second WRC podium of his career, following his first in last year’s Rally Japan, and it marks his second consecutive season with a podium finish.
After Solberg fell behind the Finnish driver, after his mistake, Pajari did well to hold off the Swede’s advances to claim his third-place finish. The Finn managed to maintain over 20 seconds over his Scandinavian rival from SS9 up until the end of the weekend.
Read more WRC here:
- Entry List: WRC 2026 Safari Rally Kenya
- Elfyn Evans wins Rally Sweden to lead back-to-back Toyota 1-2-3
- 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
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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.
Kamron Kent
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.
