Elfyn Evans suffered a major setback in the WRC Finland 2026 victory fight after crashing on SS14 Leustu 1, losing almost two minutes and dropping from second to fifth overall.
Evans was chasing Toyota team-mate Sebastien Ogier when his car rolled at the penultimate corner. His Toyota rolled three times before coming to rest on its wheels, but his attempt to immediately return to the stage was halted when the car became stuck in a ditch.
Spectators then helped Evans and co-driver Scott Martin back onto the road. The delay nevertheless cost almost two minutes and effectively ended the direct pressure he had been applying to Ogier in the battle for the rally lead.
“The corner was a bit tighter than I expected. I hadn’t marked the ditch on the outside. I committed a bit too much. We lost too much time, and that’s disappointing,” Evans said.
The incident reshaped the top three. Sami Pajari moved into second place, 22.7 seconds behind Ogier, while Oliver Solberg climbed to third overall at around one minute from the lead.
Ogier said he had expected his rivals to increase the pressure on Saturday morning. “I knew they would try to push hard this morning. That’s exactly the kind of fight I wanted. I’m trying to keep a small margin myself, so the plan has worked so far,” he said.
SS14 also ended Martins Sesks’ run after the M-Sport Ford driver crashed and retired while holding fifth overall. Four special stages remain on Saturday after the midday service before WRC Finland 2026 concludes with two stages on Sunday, including the SS20 Himos-Jämsä 2 Power Stage.
| POS | FOTO | RIDER / TEAM | TIME / GAP | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |  | Sebastien OgierToyota | 1:32:13.7 Prancis | 0 |
2 |  | Sami PajariToyota | +22.7 Finlandia | 0 |
3 |  | Oliver SolbergToyota | +1:01.5 Swedia | 0 |
4 |  | Adrien FourmauxHyundai | +1:49.2 Prancis | 0 |
5 |  | Elfyn EvansToyota | +2:00.6 Britania Raya | 0 |
6 |  | Takamoto KatsutaToyota | +2:58.3 Jepang | 0 |
7 |  | Josh McErleanFord | +3:33.1 Irlandia | 0 |
8 |  | Thierry NeuvilleHyundai | +3:42.4 Belgia | 0 |
9 |  | Robert VirvesSkoda | +5:05.6 Estonia | 0 |
10 | | Jari-Matti LatvalaToyota | +5:19.3 Finlandia | 0 |
11 | | Teemu SuninenToyota | +5:39.8 Finland | 0 |
12 | | Lauri JoonaSkoda | +6:09.8 Finland | 0 |
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