“It’s still very open going to Sardinia,” reckons the man who starts this week’s World Rally Championship finale 17 points up the road.
Toyota team-mates Sami Pajari and Oliver Solberg (21 points adrift) might disagree with you there, Elfyn Evans.
But those seven words typify exactly what’s helped Evans reach this point of the season in the lead.
There’s no bigger picture, no talking up his performances and certainly no counting his chickens. Every rally is another opportunity and the only target on his mind.
That doesn’t change, even with rallying’s biggest prize on the line.
“Especially with opening the road, normally in Sardinia it’s a significant disadvantage to run first,” Evans said.
“So with that in mind, it could be difficult. We still have to go there as if it was any other round and ignore the championship situation.”
Evans has an innate ability to block out all the noise and just focus on the job ahead
Quite how he manages that, only he will know. But Evans did admit after Chile (before we knew the season was being shortened to 13 rounds) he was surprised he hadn’t lost the championship lead already, such is the handicap of sweeping the road.
That’s an impediment both Pajari and Solberg would gladly accept however, as all drivers would tell you they’d rather have the points in the bag than be chasing a deficit.
Mentally, Evans is in the toughest spot by far though – and not just because he’s the one who theoretically has the most to lose.
Unlike Pajari – who only had one podium to his name prior to 2026 let alone a win – and Solberg – who has taken on his first full season in a top class car – Evans started this season with no excuses left.
Throughout the 2020s and his time at Toyota, he’s finished runner-up in the championship five times. That’s five times in six years, to be clear.
He’s taken the title fight to the final round three times before, and each time he’s lost. But all three of those occasions were against Sébastien Ogier.
Not to discredit Pajari or Solberg, but losing against statistically one of the very best drivers to ever do it is one thing. Losing against your 25 and 24-year-old team-mates only just finding their feet in the sport is quite another.
Will Evans be thinking about any of that?
You already know the answer, but here’s your confirmation.
“Nothing is guaranteed,” he offered.
“You can’t really afford to [think about the title]. It was exactly the same margin as I had to Séb in 2020 going into Monza [sic Evans led by 14 points then, not 17]. So I have plenty of experience of what not to do!
“But, you know, how it turns out is, I think, far less certain than what it appears on paper, perhaps.”
Evans is right there, but the reality is he does have the advantage. Not that he’ll want to believe that, or tell the world that either.
But has this been his best season to-date?
Evans isn't sure if 2026 is his best season
“In some ways it’s been less consistent than a lot of my other seasons and actually without a few of those difficulties, especially in the start of the season, it would have been job done already by now!” he smiled.
“So yeah, I think in terms of maybe raw speed and delivering on Sunday, it’s probably been the best season. [That] probably comes on the back of recognizing a few weaknesses from last year.
“I think also we’ve managed to improve the car a lot again this year which suited me a bit better. Every year that’s gone by with the car I’ve got more and more comfortable and that’s only helped.
“So yeah, I think there’s a case to argue that we’re performing better than ever, but in some ways it’s not as consistent a season as maybe what we’ve done in the past.”
I fall into the trap of asking him what a championship title would mean, giving he’s gone after it for so many years. I really wanted to ask him just how badly he wanted it, which he did accidentally answer anyway.
Evans has been shadowed by his title-winning teammates when it comes to championship silverware. He's unsure what seeing the light of a world title would feel like
“I never know how to answer that question because you just don’t know, do you?” Evans quite rightly responded.
“Of course, you’ve worked your whole life, whole career for it, but what it’s going to mean? I have no idea.
“It’s not actually going to change my life much, anymore, in the end, from a life point of view, but at the same time, it’s always been the goal, so it’s a difficult question to answer.”
Do not mistake that for a lack of desire, more an insight into the man’s mindset. Nothing, and nobody, will disturb him, and that – coupled with an upturn in Evans’ speed on Sundays especially – is why he’s the one who most expect to fly home from Sardinia a world champion.
