WRC Rally Finland 2026: Roll-over sets back World Championship leader

– Elfyn Evans’ title hopes in the 2026 World Rally Championship (WRC) took a hit after he went off the road in the battle for victory at Rally Finland with Sebastien Ogier.

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The championship leader was on the heels of the leading Ogier and had reduced the gap before the last stage of the morning loop (SS14 Leustu) from 16.3 to 11.6 seconds when the drama unfolded.

Evans misjudged a left corner shortly before the end of the stage, causing the GR Yaris to roll over. The car landed on its wheels, but when trying to get back on the road, Evans ended up in a ditch. Dozens of spectators, including Evans’ father Gwyndaf, rushed to help. Nevertheless, he lost 1:49.0 minutes to the lead.

Toyota worries: Can Evans continue?

Evans managed to drive the damaged car back to the service park, where Toyota is now racing against the clock to repair the Yaris before the afternoon stages.

“Near the end of the stage, where the organizers had placed one of those anti-cut blocks, there was a ditch on the outside. We had it on the pace notes, but I think I was too optimistic. With such a deep ditch, the car rolled over and then we got stuck,” Evans explained.

“At that moment, I wasn’t thinking about the championship at all. The only focus now is to see if we can continue after service. The damage to the car is less than I expected. Let’s wait and see.”

The rollover dropped the Welshman to fifth overall, two minutes behind the lead. Ogier now has a 22.7-second lead over Toyota teammate Sami Pajari. Oliver Solberg (Toyota, +1:01.5 minutes) climbed to third place. (to the results)

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Sesks also goes off: End for the M-Sport driver

Evans was not the only driver to roll on the 14th stage. M-Sport Ford driver Martins Sesks, who was in a strong fifth place, lost control of his Ford Puma, which rolled multiple times and ended up in the trees. Sesks and his co-driver Renars Francis were uninjured, but the accident likely means the end of their rally.

“I think both are fine, but the car doesn’t look so good anymore,” said M-Sport Ford team boss Rich Millener to the English edition of Motorsport.com. “I can almost guarantee that the rally is over for him, as there is no real benefit in repairing the damage for the two stages tomorrow.”

Sesks’ retirement handed Hyundai driver Adrien Fourmaux fourth place after he steadily closed in on the M-Sport driver. However, Fourmaux reached service with slight back pain caused by the hard landings after jumps.

The other positions: Neuville fights back

Toyota driver Takamoto Katsuta started the day in eighth after a fogged windshield cost the Japanese driver two minutes in heavy rain on Friday. Starting third behind Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) and the returning Jon Armstrong (M-Sport Ford), Katsuta passed M-Sport driver Josh McErlean on the first stage of the day to move up to seventh before reaching service in sixth.

Neuville held eighth place. The 2024 world champion aims to climb further up the standings after a mistake on the fifth stage on Friday damaged the left suspension and cost more than two minutes. The Belgian managed to reduce the gap to seventh-placed McErlean to 9.3 seconds.

The top 10 was completed by WRC2 leader Robert Virves (Skoda) and Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota), who once again competes in his home rally in a Rally2 car.

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