Having learned the hard way, Elfyn Evans is going to treat Sébastien Ogier as a World Rally Championship title contender from the get-go in 2026.
Evans led the championship after 10 of the 14 events in 2025, but Ogier beat him to the title by four points – despite the Frenchman missing three rallies.
Two of those three fell in the first quarter of the season (Sweden and Kenya), meaning Ogier was not viewed by many as a serious championship challenger. But back-to-back wins in Portugal and Sardinia, plus second in Greece, vaulted him into play.
Losing the championship by such a small margin makes it easy for Evans to wonder what he could have done differently to defeat his Toyota team-mate. While he’s not planning a major change in approach for 2026, last season did teach him one valuable lesson.
“I don’t know if I would fully change my approach, but I think there were a few cases last year where we were fighting [Ogier], let’s say, and I maybe didn’t stress so much to beat him at the start of the year,” Evans revealed.
“But now, obviously, we know. Well, you always know that every point counts and of course you want to win, but maybe you don’t break your balls to try and beat him, you know?
“And obviously it looks like now, if we’re in that same position again, then maybe you have to treat it a little differently.”
Evans and Ogier have lots of respect for each other, but neither wants to lose to the other
Evans said that meant “maybe a few more risks at some moments”, pinpointing last year’s Monte Carlo Rally and Rally Islas Canarias in particular.
“Yeah, Monte, we were not so far,” he added. “And also, yeah, Canary Islands, it was a little close at some moments, but it is what it is. He still did three rallies less, so that’s not an advantage at the end of the day.
“It’s just to be aware that the situation can change during the year. I guess it’s a lesson that every point always counts.”
Having said that, Evans believes Chile and Japan were the true turning points in the title battle.
“We finished the season pretty strong in a way,” he said. “What was missing, I guess, two key events… even though the performance was not bad on them, when you look at Japan and Chile, we were fighting with Séb all the way to the end, and if we had been able to do a bit more and won those rallies, then that would have had a massive change and swing in the outcome.
“But it didn’t happen, so it’s like that. There’s many moments you can pick in the season – you can say like Portugal and Sardinia, we were pathetically slow. That side, definitely, it’s the area to really focus on, because that’s clearly the part where the performance was not the same as everywhere else.”
Is the motivation still there?
Evans has finished runner-up in five of the last six world championships. Three of those defeats have been to Ogier; the other two to Kalle Rovanperä and Thierry Neuville.
Appearing on DirtFish’s SPIN, The Rally Pod podcast, Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala recently said he hoped Evans’ head didn’t drop having come so close to the championship but not getting it over the line.
Asked by DirtFish if it’s getting harder to motivate himself, or easier, given the number of narrow defeats, the Welshman replied: “No difference really.
“[I’ve] just [got to] keep doing the same and hopefully find some improvements along the way. We’ll keep trying and that’s it.”
Two obvious contenders from previous years (Rovanperä and Ott Tänak) won’t be in this year’s battle, but Evans doesn’t believe that weakens the championship.
No Rovanperä or Tänak doesn't automatically mean a weaker WRC, says Evans
“It’s like always, you know,” he said. “[When] you lose two potential championship candidates, let’s say in theory, of course, you would say that the percentage of championship challengers maybe is a bit less.
“But I don’t think it’s going to really change the overall pace of any of the rallies because everybody is anyway fighting so close, so I think that side is clear. And there’s people like Oliver [Solberg] who we don’t know how his first season back is going to go, but we see already that he’s capable of winning rallies.
“I think the standard of the championship will not drop. But of course, there’s two experienced challengers that are not there.”
