Evans won the opening test of the 2026 World Rally Championship season, establishing a 5.6-second lead over Solberg with world champion Sébastien Ogier 12s in arrears.
That first stage had been wet but free of any snow and ice, however SS2 Esclangon / Seyne-les-Alpes – which started two and a half hours afterwards – was a completely different story.
Conditions were described as “horrendous” and “crazy” and “one of the most difficult stages I have done in my life”, yet Toyota’s new hire Solberg seemed impervious.
Stopping the clocks an insane 31.1s quicker than Evans, the young Swede now leads the rally by 25.5s over Evans.
“I tell you: my god!” said Solberg. “That is the craziest stage I’ve ever done in my life. I thought I was off many times. In the beginning I drove so bad, no rhythm at all, but when I hit the snow I thought let’s drive a little bit. I don’t know what to say.”
Evans is in a comfortable second, with M-Sport’s Jon Armstrong third fastest on the test to hold the same place overall.
He however hit a bank and punctured his front left tire right at the end of the stage.
“It was very difficult to know how to drive in these conditions, it was my first time,” he commented.
Armstrong is 1m03.3s behind leader Solberg, with Adrien Fourmaux jumping up to fourth (despite a spin), ahead of Ogier who lost 1m09.2s on SS2 alone and expressed his frustration with the tires.
Thierry Neuville is sixth overall, fourth fastest on the stage, ahead of Takamoto Katsuta Grégoire Munster and Hayden Paddon, with just over 30s separating third to ninth place.
Neither Sami Pajari nor Josh McErlean made it through the stage; Pajari smashing his rear-left wheel against a bridge and McErlean suffering a small spin that beached his Puma on a bank.
