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The quarter-of-a-century wait is over. Britain has a new World Rally champion, and his name is Elfyn Evans. After the most dramatic of season finales in Sardinia, Evans and co-driver Scott Martin have joined an exclusive club of British WRC conquerors, which includes Richard Burns/Robert Reid (2001) and Colin McRae/Derek Ringer (1995).
The triumph was the culmination of an almost two-decade journey filled with highs and lows in pursuit of WRC glory. After the agony of finishing runner-up on five occasions, the down-to-earth, resilient Welshman’s meticulous, no-stone-unturned approach has now paid off.
Evans grew up in the Welsh town of Dolgellau as the son of Gwyndaf Evans, who lit up the domestic rallying scene across the 1980s and 1990s, and claimed the British Rally Championship in 1996. It was perhaps inevitable that Elfyn would get the rallying bug – despite the best efforts of his father to steer him away.
“Probably the first memory is spectating Rally GB. I was waiting to see Dad, but Colin McRae was the first car that came into view with the Impreza at completely 90 degrees” Elfyn Evans
His earliest rally memories are of his father, who also ran a family garage and drove a school bus to make a living, grappling a Ford Escort RS2000 on Welsh gravel roads. But like many growing up in this era, it was a certain McRae who also made an impression.
“Obviously I followed Dad competing from the beginning,” said Evans in 2024. “I would say probably the first memory is spectating Rally GB, being quite young and actually seeing Colin McRae. I was waiting to see Dad, but Colin was the first car that came into view with the Impreza at completely 90 degrees.”
Aged 17, Evans began to hone his skills piloting a self-built Nissan Micra in national BTRDA rallies in 2006 before upgrading to a Group N-spec Ford Fiesta ST150 the following year. It was in 2007 when Evans made his WRC debut, competing on home soil at Rally GB and winning the Group N3 class.
Evans was Group N3 class winner on Rally GB in 2007
Photo by: McKlein
Success continued by winning the Ireland Fiesta Sport Trophy, and by 2012 Evans seemed destined for the WRC. The previous year, Gwyndaf had managed to secure the budget for his son to contest three rounds of the WRC Academy, now known as Junior WRC.
“It was a huge commitment from myself,” remembers Gwyndaf. “I did a deal and I said, ‘We can find enough budget to go and do three WRC rallies: Finland, France and the RAC in an R2 Fiesta [in 2011]’. I said, ‘You're going to have to prove to me that you’re good enough to have a commitment from me and sponsors to go and do the Academy the following year’.
“We went over to Finland, and we did a small rally, small test, and I sat in with him. Honestly, it blew my mind even then how quick he was and how efficient he was behind the wheel. During that test, some of our Finnish friends came to me and they said, ‘We have been watching your son, he’s incredible’. And I thought if that’s coming from Finnish rally enthusiasts that know their stuff, then we were on the right track.”
Elfyn was indeed on the right track. In 2012, aged 24, he won four of the six rounds to claim the WRC Academy crown. The prize for that was an opportunity to contest all the rounds of the WRC in an R2 Fiesta, or step up to a four-wheel-drive Fiesta for selected rounds. “The one thing I am determined to do is to take the next step into the world championship and, hopefully, go all the way,” said Evans at the time. And in hindsight, those words were prophetic.
Evans made the most of the WRC Academy prize drive with M-Sport, contesting selected WRC rounds in a Fiesta R5 (WRC2) in 2013. At this point Evans had also left the family home and began working full-time as a mechanic at M-Sport.
It’s fair to say he made quite an impression in a short space of time. After only four outings, M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson offered Evans a golden opportunity to make his top-flight WRC debut in Sardinia. The new boy stood in for regular Nasser Al-Attiyah alongside the Qatari’s co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini, and finished a surprise sixth overall.
Sixth on Evans’s top-flight World Rally Championship debut in Sardinia in 2013
Photo by: McKlein
It was seemingly enough to convince Wilson to offer Evans a top-level WRC drive for 2014 and 2015. Evans took an M-Sport Ford Fiesta to points finishes in nine of the 13 WRC rounds, finishing eighth overall in what proved to be a solid debut season. And it wasn’t long before he found himself on a WRC podium, finishing third in Argentina and second in Corsica.
But then there was what Evans called “a bump in the road” when Wilson dropped him to the team’s WRC2 squad for 2016, with Eric Camilli taking his place. “Everybody has tough times in their career – unless your name is Sebastien and you’re French – and this is my tough time,” he said at the time. “I’ll deal with it and be back.”
Three WRC2 wins, and lifting the 2016 British Rally Championship title in dominant style, resulted in a comeback to M-Sport’s WRC squad for 2017.
Driving M-Sport’s DMACK-tyred Ford Fiesta, Evans came close to a first win in Argentina, only to lose out to Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville by 0.7 seconds after a brake issue on the final day. Another runner-up finish arrived in Finland before the big breakthrough came on home soil in Wales. Alongside co-driver Daniel Barritt, the 28-year-old Evans took victory on 2017 Rally GB – the first of his 13 WRC wins to date – triumphing over Neuville to the tune of 37.3s.
Two more podium finishes followed on the way to finishing seventh in the points in 2018, before Evans embarked on a co-driver change as Craig Breen’s former navigator Scott Martin stepped into the passenger seat for 2019. That year would be his final season at M-Sport before securing a factory drive at Toyota from 2020.
“He did everything he needed to,” says M-Sport team principal Rich Millener of Evans’s time at the team. “He worked on the car, became a good mechanic, became a good team-mate, built a team around him, and worked hard. I think he really shone when he moved to Toyota, that's when he took another step on. And he’s got stronger and stronger since.”
Breakthrough WRC victory, here with co-driver Daniel Barritt, was on home soil in 2017
Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images
A first attempt at winning the world title came against arguably the sport’s greatest: Sebastien Ogier, who had also landed at Toyota for 2020. It proved to be the first of three intense title fights between the pair, Evans reaching a new level of performance during a shortened season disrupted by COVID-19.
A second career win arrived in Sweden before a triumph in Turkey pushed Evans into a healthy championship lead for the first time in his career. A margin of 14 points was taken into the Rally Monza decider and Evans appeared on course to claim the title until he crashed in snowy conditions on stage 11. Although disappointed, he had become a genuine force in the WRC.
“He is probably one of the cleverest drivers you will ever come across,” claimed his Toyota engineer Rui Soares. “He’s also a very good mechanic so you can’t bullshit him. He’s not the most positive to himself and sometimes he’s the most self-critical person I know.”
“He is probably one of the cleverest drivers you will ever come across. He’s also a very good mechanic so you can’t bullshit him” Rui Soares
Evans again was locked in a championship fight with Ogier in 2021. The campaign was built on consistency by finishing all 12 rounds inside the top 10, including victories in Portugal and Finland. This time he faced a much tougher task with a 17-point deficit to Ogier going into the Monza finale, and ultimately had to settle for second again.
After a winless 2022 adjusting to new Rally1 hybrid machines, Evans was back in the title fight again in 2023 against the WRC’s newly crowned youngest-ever champion Kalle Rovanpera. An emotional victory in Croatia put Evans into the championship lead, but it was brief and he suffered a rare crash in Portugal. Evans made the most of team-mate Rovanpera’s mistake to win for the second time in Finland, but had to concede the title with a round to spare after shunting at the Central European Rally.
Evans sealed the runner-up spot again – this time behind Neuville – in 2024 after winning the Japan season finale. And last year was statistically his best, finishing all 14 rounds inside the top six, including two wins. But it was perhaps the most painful of seasons. He quickly adapted to new Hankook rubber, rocketing into a 43-point lead thanks to wins in Sweden and Kenya.
Crash on the snowy Rally Monza ended the Welshman’s 2020 title hopes
Photo by: Toyota Racing
But such a lead meant Evans faced the pain of having to open the road for the majority of the year. The disadvantage of road sweeping combined with a sensational part-time campaign from Ogier meant Evans was just three points ahead before the Saudi Arabia finale. A puncture meant he missed out by four points.
“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 [Ogier],” he said. “If we’re in that same position again, then maybe you have to treat it a little differently.”
Lessons were learned and put into practice this year. By his own admission the campaign was not as consistent. A 19-rally streak without retirement came to an end in Kenya due to a suspension failure, followed by a crash from the lead in Croatia – his only real error of the year. There was also cruel misfortune from punctures, outside of his control, in the penultimate stages in Chile and Sardinia.
But Evans improved his driving when opening the road and squeezed more points from Super Sundays, which proved crucial: “In terms of maybe raw speed and delivering on Sunday, it’s probably been the best season. [That] probably comes on the back of recognising a few weaknesses from last year. Also we’ve managed to improve the car a lot again this year, which suited me a bit better.”
Achieving the title was far from easy. Oliver Solberg whittled a 21-point deficit to one to create a tense Power Stage showdown. Evans was convinced that another title had passed him by, only for Solberg to suddenly crash two corners from the end in the most dramatic of circumstances.
“Of course I put a lot of work into this game and maybe my talent alone is not as high as some of the other guys,” says the modest Evans in victory. “I try to give everything and finally it has paid off with a championship. I don’t think this will change my life very much. I’ve had a long and great career. This was obviously the biggest goal of all, and now we’ve achieved it. But life will carry on as before.
Starting first on the road at the season finale in Sardinia made the task more challenging
Photo by: Toyota Racing
“This is a great reward and also a way of thanking everyone who has supported me throughout my career. It feels as though we achieved this together – the team, my family and, of course, Scott as well.”
Evans realised his dream standing with his family in what proved to be a full circle moment. “It’s been a long, long, long journey,” says a proud Gwyndaf. “But what a driver! To be that consistent for so many years and to be so calculated, I don’t think the normal person will understand how good you have to be and how much energy it takes.
“It’s just a reward for all the work he’s put in. Don’t get me wrong. There’s a big team that’s worked endlessly behind him as well, and they’ve been so supportive and so welcoming. But ultimately Scott and Elfyn have to do the grinding, and that’s between physical fitness, preparation, video work, pacenote work, testing, and the travelling is becoming huge.
“There is very little time for family unfortunately and he’s got a lovely family. There have been sacrifices of course. But hopefully one day they’ll reap the benefits of this as well. Right now, I’m really happy for him.”
This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the November 2026 issue and subscribe today.
Former rally driver Evans Sr is so proud of his boy’s achievement after “a long, long, long journey”
Photo by: Luca Barsali/NurPhoto/Getty Images
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