Elfyn Evans Calm After Difficult Acropolis Rally 2026

Elfyn Evans believes his WRC 2026 title situation remains largely unchanged despite a frustrating Acropolis Rally Greece and a missed opportunity to score more heavily.

The Toyota driver worked to limit the damage in Greece after being forced to open the road on Friday, a major disadvantage as he swept the gravel surface for the rivals running behind him.

Evans drove a measured rally on Saturday, but a puncture on the final stage dropped him from fifth to seventh overall. A second puncture on Sunday then damaged his hopes of securing a stronger Super Sunday points haul.

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Post-event time penalties for several rivals promoted Evans back to fifth in the final classification. Those points proved valuable, with nearest challenger Takamoto Katsuta finishing third and keeping pressure on the championship lead.

Evans now leads the standings by 11 points, but he refused to place too much importance on the championship picture at this stage of the season.

“It doesn’t mean a lot, really. Of course, it’s been a bad weekend in terms of points, but it’s still early days, so it doesn’t mean too much at the moment,” Evans said.

The next phase of the WRC season brings two fast gravel rallies, starting with Rally Estonia, where Evans will once again open the road. He said the impact of road order will depend heavily on the weather and the structure of the opening day’s stages.

“It depends a lot on the weather. It’s obviously a very different event. If it’s very dry, opening the road can be tough there as well. A lot also depends on which stages are scheduled for the first day,” he said. Evans stressed that the priority is to prepare as effectively as possible before performance on the day determines the final outcome.