Rome (AFP) – Unforeseen epilogue to a season shortened by one round, the Rally Italy must offer a first world title to a Toyota driver, the Briton Elfyn Evans, the Finn Sami Pajari or the Swede Oliver Solberg, before the overhaul in 2027 of a WRC championship in decline.

Published on: 09/30/2026 - 2:48 p.m.

After the cancellation, due to the geopolitical context, of the Saudi round scheduled for November 12 to 15, the drivers' world champion crown will be awarded from Thursday to Sunday at the end of 17 special stages (307.2 km) in the spectacular and tricky setting of Sardinia.

One certainty, it will go to a Toyota driver: with a maximum of 35 points to pocket, only Evans, Pajari and Solberg, three drivers from the Japanese brand already assured of the manufacturers' title, can still finish the season at the top of the WRC.

Leader of the championship since April, Elfyn Evans has the ascendancy, at least mathematically with his 17 points lead over Pajari, who himself is four lengths ahead of Solberg.

But the Welshman has a reputation as a real fisherman: at 37, he has already finished runner-up in the championship five times in 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Last year, he was beaten to the wire by Frenchman Sébastien Ogier, his teammate at Toyota.

“A rally like any other”

“We will have to drive as if it were a rally like any other and do the best possible. The Sardinia rally is never easy when you open the track (...) you have to prepare for this to be, as usual, a demanding rally,” he warned.

Pajari, 24, is in a hurry: "everything is still possible; Sardinia is a rally that I normally like a lot", recalled the Finn who won three events in a row (Estonia, Finland and Paraguay), before leaving the victory in mid-September, in Chile, to Solberg, just as impatient at 25 years old.

“The gap with Elfyn is hard to close in one weekend, but we will give everything,” warned the son of Norwegian Petter Solberg, 2003 WRC world champion.

If a Yaris were to lead the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean to Argentiera, it could be driven by a luxury "freelancer", Sébastien Ogier, nine-time world champion and looking for his sixth victory in Sardinia for his 214th WRC start, a new record.

Unless Hyundai, often at ease on the Sardinian tracks, spoils the party announced for Toyota by offering itself, with Thierry Neuville, Adrien Fourmaux or Dani Sordo, the last victory in rally1 history.

In 2027, new, simplified regulations will indeed come into play in the hope of attracting more manufacturers (three currently in rally1) with much cheaper cars.

© 2026 AFP

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