New world champion co-driver Scott Martin firmly believed that after numerous near misses, the 2026 season was destined to be the year he and Elfyn Evans finally shattered their world title hoodoo.
Evans and Martin boast an impressive record of placing first or second in the world championship in six of the past seven years. Having finished as runners-up on five separate occasions, they finally clinched their maiden crown following a dramatic conclusion in Sardinia.
Carrying a 17-point advantage over their closest rivals, the Toyota pairing entered the three-way showdown as clear favorites. They had similarly led the standings heading into the final rounds in both 2020 and 2025, only to be edged out by Sebastien Ogier on both occasions.
Speaking to DirtFish’s David Evans on SPIN, The Rally Pod, Martin admitted that the absence of the Frenchman from the title fight fueled his belief that everything would finally click into place.
Martin said: "Without Ogier and his like absolute masterclass, you felt like the opportunityg and because of the points gap, and because of the season that we had built up, it just felt that it really should be now. You know, that this really was the year to do it."
Throughout the campaign, Evans shouldered the heavy handicap of sweeping the road on every gravel event, a role he performed for the majority of 2025 during the WRC's debut year utilizing Hankook control tires. The steep learning curve from the previous year proved invaluable in preparing them for the ultimate challenge.
"We had to learn as we were going last year and try to set up the car and, quite often, on some rallies we were only finding the sweet spot day two or at the end of day two," Martin explained.
"There were so many gravel rallies this year that we were so much faster than the year before, with the same conditions. It was like such a big difference and that was really good. I just think with all that, it was just like, 'This is our year. We cannot let this one slide without a proper, proper fight.'"
The championship battle ultimately came down to a tense sprint over the final 4.4 miles of the season against Oliver Solberg on the Rally Sardinia powerstage, adding an even more cinematic chapter to their title-winning campaign.
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