Snow master Evans leads 1-2-3-4 finish for TGR-WRT

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team has locked out the podium places for the second time in as many rounds of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship, with Elfyn Evans claiming another victory on the snow of Rally Sweden to lead a 1-2-3-4 finish.

Following a 1-2-3 finish at last month’s Rallye Monte-Carlo, this is the first time that a manufacturer has filled the podium places on consecutive rounds of the WRC since Citroën did so in 2010. The feat was last achieved on the opening two events of a season when Audi did so in Monte Carlo and Sweden in 1984.

This is the second year in succession that Evans and co-driver Scott Martin have won the WRC’s only pure winter rally and their third Swedish success in total. That makes Welshman Evans one of the event’s most successful drivers from outside the Nordic countries, as he matches the number of victories achieved by team-mate Sébastien Ogier as well as Kenneth Eriksson and Tommi Mäkinen.

Just as in 2025, Evans’ victory came after an exciting battle with team-mate Takamoto Katsuta that went down to the final day. Evans had conceded the lead to Katsuta late on Friday after facing tough snowy conditions running second on the road, but regained the initiative on Saturday and took a lead of 13.3 seconds into the last leg.

Evans and Katsuta claimed a stage win apiece from Sunday morning’s double pass of the Västervik stage but Evans did enough in the rally-ending Power Stage to seal victory by 14.3s. He also pipped Katsuta by one second to top the Super Sunday classification and came second on the Power Stage, just 0.1s from the best time, to take a strong haul of 34 points and claim the championship lead.

Guided by co-driver Aaron Johnston, Japanese driver Katsuta once more thrived on the fast snow-covered roads, finishing on the podium for the second Rally Sweden in succession and for the eighth time in his WRC career.

Young Finnish driver Sami Pajari also shone in the winter conditions, putting a difficult Rallye Monte-Carlo behind him to finish third overall together with co-driver Marko Salminen. After two stage wins on Saturday, Pajari entered the final day within 12.1s of Katsuta and eventually secured his second career podium, matching the third place he achieved at Rally Japan 2025.

Sweden’s own Oliver Solberg arrived at his home event leading the championship after a stunning Rallye Monte-Carlo win, but this brought a challenging first full day on Friday opening the snowy roads. He and co-driver Elliott Edmondson later recovered to finish fourth, completing the team’s excellent result and banking extra points with third on Super Sunday and fourth in the Power Stage.

Italian driver Lorenzo Bertelli once more enjoyed the experience of driving one of his favourite rallies at the wheel of a GR YARIS Rally1 through the TGR-WRT customer programme. Making an enthusiastic and welcome return to the WRC service park after two years away, Bertelli and co-driver Simone Scattolin finished 15th overall following some time lost with tyre damage on Friday morning.

There was also a one-two finish for the GR Yaris Rally2 car in the hands of customer teams in the WRC2 category. Roope Korhonen claimed victory with co-driver Anssi Viinikka in their Rautio Motorsport-entered, Printsport-run car, finishing 10.2s ahead of fellow Finnish crew Teemu Suninen and Janni Hussi in their Delta Rally-prepared car.

Quotes:

Akio Toyoda (TGR-WRT Chairman)

“Elfyn, Scott, congratulations on becoming the snow rally champions for two years in a row!

Elfyn took the victory, with Takamoto in second. I wanted Elfyn to score lots of points from the early stages of the season, and at the same time I wanted Takamoto to reach the top step of the podium soon… I watched the rally with the same feelings as last year.

But this year’s Sweden had a big difference from last year in a way: the performance of the young drivers. Thanks to Sami in third and Oliver in fourth, we achieved the 1-2-3-4 finish.

I’m sure Oliver wanted to get onto the podium at his home rally in Sweden as well. He may be feeling disappointed, but I believe that experiencing the kind of adversities that come from being a top driver such as opening the road will surely help him for the future.

For Sami, I think he reset himself after the frustration in Monte Carlo and came to this rally determined. This podium must have given him a lot of confidence.

And Takamoto, even if he may no longer be fairly called a ‘youngster’, I really wish that he comes back even stronger for the next rally, savouring both the joy and the frustration of this second-place finish.

Even for a team that has its home in Finland, rallying in such severe cold must have been very tough for all. I would like to thank everyone for the hard work. The next event is in Kenya in a month, and that will be an incredible change in temperature. I believe Jari-Matti and Juha will take good care of the team and I hope everybody in the team stays healthy and safe.”

Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)

“We’re really happy with this 1-2-3-4 result and it’s amazing to see the performance level that we’ve had in these first two rounds of the season. After Rallye Monte-Carlo, we had been expecting to face a stronger challenge here in Sweden. Still, our drivers were able to fight closely with each other and still bring the cars home without any big mistakes. Elfyn is driving at such an amazing and consistent level right now, and he’s really becoming a master of this event. Taka also really enjoys this event and was driving very well. Even if there was some frustration for him, it’s a great result for him too. We’re also delighted by Sami’s drive. He started the event under pressure and slightly cautious, but once he could see things were going well, the confidence improved and the smile had come back. And for Oliver, these are strong points and a good comeback after a challenging start to the rally.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)

“It’s been a great weekend for us and the whole team here in Sweden. The car has been amazing to drive, so a big thanks to the team. It’s an incredible feeling to drive on these fast stages in such nice winter conditions, and when you feel good in the car, it’s always a pleasure. We didn’t have a huge margin coming into the final day, and with so many points available on Sundays, we had to push until the end but we can be very happy with what we came away with. It’s been a great start to the year, but it’s still early days and we need to keep working hard.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)

“Of course, I was hoping for more from my home rally but I think I underestimated how difficult it would be on Friday. My mistake maybe cost a podium and put me on the back foot for the rest of the weekend, but fourth is probably the best I deserve. There’s been a lot of learning in my first proper snow rally with this car and my first time starting first on the road. I tried my best and scored some decent points. The support has been amazing and I’ve really enjoyed myself in the car. A big thanks to the team: they’ve done a great job and this 1-2-3-4 is a fantastic result.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)

“This is a great result for the team and I’m very happy to be part of it, so a huge thanks to the team for all their hard work. Everything was working well with the car and I was enjoying it a lot. Big congratulations to Elfyn: he was so strong here again this year and deserves this win. Hopefully next time I have a chance to fight for victory I can push harder. It’s always enjoyable to be in the fight, especially on this kind of high-speed rally when it’s so intense and you’re fighting over tenths of a second. Kenya is another rally that seems to suit me, so I’ll look forward to that.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)

“This is an amazing result for us and for the team. I want to say a big thank you to the team and to everybody who was giving us such great support after Rallye Monte-Carlo didn’t go to plan. This time we were back on the pace and I’m of course really happy to be back on the podium. I really enjoyed the driving this week with this car in these conditions. It’s nice to be back on the level where I think we should be and where we were at the end of last year. Now we just need to keep pushing for even better results in the future.”

PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY SWEDEN

(Results as of 14:00 on Sunday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round 2:

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round 2:

What’s next?

The legendary Safari Rally Kenya – the only African round of the WRC – hosts round three on March 12-15. Since returning to the calendar in 2021, the event continues to provide gruelling conditions on rough and rocky roads as well as high speeds across open plains.