Colin McRae knows the feeling: winning all six events on his way to becoming champion of his country.
But in 2026, somebody went even further than what the 1995 world champion accomplished in 1992.
Norwegian Frank Tore Larsen was so flawless aboard his MRF-shod Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 that he not only led every stage of the season, but he also won all but two of them.
That’s 49 stage wins from 51, equating to 96%!
“Yeah, I wasn’t aware of the fact and it’s quite impressive when you hear it for the first time,” Larsen tells DirtFish.
“But then when you think about it a little bit, then you kind of think: ‘What could I have done differently on the two stages I didn’t win to get the 100% record?’ But I think mostly it says something about the level that we have kept.
Larsen was only 0.8s shy of winning every single stage
“Often rallies are long, so it’s normal to have a dip during a rally where you have a stage where you don’t maybe like the characteristics of the stage, the surface, the conditions, anything.
“But I think that says something about the stability of the level and the pace that we kept this year that we won so many.”
Larsen only lost the two stages by 0.5s and 0.3s respectively too, which means he was under a second away from a complete whitewash of this year’s Norwegian championship.
Cynics could suggest that’s not as impressive as it sounds, considering Larsen was the most accomplished driver competing this year in the absence of 2025’s champion Eyvind Brynildsen or World Rallycross event winner Ole Christian Veiby.
But Larsen is a deeply analytical character, and used the stage times of his rivals almost like ghost cars on a computer game.
“A lot of the rallies and stages we have compared our stage times to last year when we did them against Eyvind, and we have been faster this year,” Larsen explains.
“That can be quite difficult when you don’t have that guy pushing you on every stage. We have been able to do that ourselves and keep developing, and I think that’s the reason why we won 49 out of 51 stages was that I kept on pushing like Eyvind was in my rear wheel mirror the whole time.”
The other factor is the composition of the championship itself.
The Norwegian championship comprises two gravel events, two snow events and two Tarmac events, offering competitors a totally unique challenge and meaning any champion must be strong across all surfaces.
“For me, when you win all six events, it shows something about what kind of all-round driver you are when you can handle all three surfaces and you win, as we said, almost all the stages and all the events,” Larsen agrees.
“And also with MRF, I think it’s the optimal recognition of the quality of the tire. It’s not like a snow championship or a gravel championship. It’s all surfaces. And both last year and this year, we have won rallies on all three surfaces with MRF. So for me, it’s a really good recognition of both the tire itself and also like the range of tires with all three.”
Larsen has been heavily involved in the development of MRF’s range of tires en route to his championship title – the fourth of his career.
“I’m a really analytical person, so for me it’s been really interesting because it’s the first time where I’ve worked so closely with a tire constructor,” he says.
“For MRF, I think Norway has been an important market – especially for ERC in Sweden [Royal Rally of Scandinavia], what we do in testing and development is quite important for them to be competitive in Sweden.
Larsen has played a pivotal role in making MRF's rubber even better
“So for me to work so closely with MRF, to do the testing and to gather all the data and give my feedback, I know that this means something for them, it will be used in the development of the tires, it’s given me a lot of motivation to do a good job for them.
“At the start it was a big change for me to switch to MRF,” Larsen admits. “When we started working on snow, the tire was still at an early stage of its development, with relatively few testing kilometers behind it. So we had a lot of work to do together to better understand its characteristics, identify its strengths and see where we could make further improvements.
“But from the first year to be able to win on all three surfaces against Eyvind Brynildsen with his level and his package was a strong start and we’ve just built on that this year.
“I can be honest with you to say this is a big deal for me. The tires are extremely important, and with the support that we get from MRF, we are able to do the Norwegian championship and also the ERC event in Sweden. So it’s also really important for me that I give something back every time we go testing.”
For the future, Larsen is considering his options in terms of machinery, with the Polo R5 he currently uses is growing long in the tooth compared to younger Rally2 rivals.
That’s of particular importance for the ERC’s Royal Rally of Scandinavia, where he’d dearly love to claim a podium having come so close in previous seasons.
A podium at Royal Rally of Scandinavia is a big future target
“Next season the goal is to do the same: to do the Norwegian Championship and the ERC event in Sweden. That’s what I’m aiming at,” he shares.
“And then we need to look at whether the Polo the correct car to be using, especially for the ERC event. My biggest aim is, of course, to win the Norwegian Championship. That’s always the aim. But it’s also to be on the podium in ERC and one day win the event.
“I’ve done the rally every year and have developed each time, but it’s always felt like if I had the level I had one season before, I would have been on the podium.
“The first year when we crashed, I think we had the pace to be on the podium. We were fighting for the third place. Then in ’24 we finished fourth, and in ’25 we were really, really close. The step from our fifth place to the victory was the same as it was from the fifth place to the sixth place.
“It was really small details that we didn’t get correct with the setup, especially on the last day. That made us miss the podium. It’s always been really close, but the last few details have been missing.”
Make no mistake, Larsen will leave no stone unturned in pursuit of perfection.
Some may bask in the majesty of his 2026 success, but that’s not the way this 35-year-old is wired.
“I think as soon as I’m not working against becoming a better driver, I need to stop rallying,” he smiles.
“Because for me, the motivation to be lying underneath the car, washing off the mud after a test or after a rally, it’s all to become a better driver. As soon as I don’t have that motivation, that drive, I don’t think I have the motivation to do all of the hours in the workshop between the event and everything.
“So for me, that’s what’s driving me.”
