Drama at the Rally Finland: World Championship leader Elfyn Evans throws away the victory with a rollover—Sébastien Ogier is now clearly in the lead again
Elfyn Evans’ title hopes in the 2026 World Rally Championship (WRC) have suffered a setback after he went off the road while battling Sébastien Ogier for the win at Rally Finland.
The championship leader was hot on the heels of the leading Ogier and had cut the gap from 16.3 to 11.6 seconds ahead of the final stage of the morning loop (SS14 Leustu) when the drama unfolded.
Shortly before the end of the stage, Evans misjudged a left-hand turn, causing the GR Yaris to roll over. Although the car landed back on its wheels, Evans ended up in a ditch while trying to get back on the course. Dozens of spectators, including Evans’ father Gwyndaf, rushed to his aid. Nevertheless, he lost 1:49.0 minutes to the leader.
Toyota is worried: 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 set up one of those anti-cut blocks, there was a ditch on the outside. We had it marked 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.
Drama right before our eyes WRC | SectoRallyFinland pic.twitter.com/oVA0L1WMmL
— FIA World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) August 1, 2026
“I wasn’t thinking about the World Championship at all in that moment. The only focus right now is to see if we can continue after the service. The damage to the car is less than I expected. Let’s wait and see.”
The rollover dropped the Welshman to fifth place overall, two minutes behind the leader. As a result, Ogier now holds a 22.7-second lead over his Toyota teammate Sami Pajari. Oliver Solberg (Toyota, +1:01.5 minutes) moved up to third place.
Sesks also goes off the road: It’s over for the M-Sport driver
Evans wasn’t the only driver to roll his car on the 14th stage. M-Sport Ford driver Martins Sesks, who was running a strong fifth, lost control of his Ford Puma, which rolled several times and came to rest in the trees. Sesks and his co-driver Renars Francis were uninjured, but the accident is likely to mean the end of their rally.
“I think they’re both okay, but the car doesn’t look so good anymore,” M-Sport Ford team principal Rich Millener told the English-language edition of Motorsport.com. “I can almost guarantee that the rally is over for him, since there’s no real benefit in repairing the damage for the two stages tomorrow.”
Sébastien Ogier & Julien Ingrassia were the first to offer a helping hand to their teammates Elfyn Evans & Scott Martin after their crash on SS14 WRC | SectoRallyFinland pic.twitter.com/hHvNNv36f7
— FIA World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) August 1, 2026
Sesks’ retirement handed Hyundai driver Adrien Fourmaux fourth place after he had steadily closed in on the M-Sport driver. Fourmaux arrived at the service area with mild back pain, however, caused by hard landings after the jumps.
The rest of the standings: Neuville fights his way up
Toyota driver Takamoto Katsuta started the day in eighth place after a fogged-up windshield cost the Japanese driver two minutes in Friday’s heavy rain. As the third driver to start behind Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) and the returning Jon Armstrong (M-Sport Ford), Katsuta overtook M-Sport driver Josh McErlean on the very first special stage of the day to move up to seventh place, before reaching the service park in sixth.
Neuville held eighth place. The 2024 world champion has set his sights on climbing further up the standings after a mistake on Friday’s fifth stage damaged his left suspension and cost him more than two minutes. The Belgian managed to cut the gap to seventh-place McErlean to 9.3 seconds.
Rounding out the top 10 were WRC2 leader Robert Virves (Skoda) and Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota), who is once again competing in a Rally2 car at his home rally.
