Evans Suffers Costly Blow at 2026 Acropolis Rally

Elfyn Evans suffered a major setback during Saturday's final stage of the 2026 Acropolis Rally Greece when a puncture dropped the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT driver from fifth to seventh overall.

The championship leader never expected to challenge for victory after opening the road on Friday, but he had been on course for a top-five finish before the late puncture also compromised his road position for Sunday's Super Sunday points battle.

"The puncture came completely out of nowhere. Then, when I braked for the next corner, I was right on the limit because I could easily have lost everything. There wasn't much room to save the situation, but in the end everything turned out fine."

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"Of course it's frustrating, but quite a few other drivers have been in the same situation. I'm not alone."

The setback means Evans will start Sunday's stages two positions further forward on the road, reducing his chances of maximising bonus points. Even so, he believes the rally remains unpredictable with more than 80 competitive kilometres still to run.

"The character of the stages is quite different tomorrow. There are much sandier sections, but also plenty of loose rocks. Anything can still happen. I feel like there's still a lot of the rally left."

"We're probably not going to be fighting for big points tomorrow, but we'll take whatever we can get. At the very least, we'll give it everything we've got."