Elfyn begins his title push with second place finish in Monte Carlo

ELFYN EVANS started his bid for the 2026 World Rally Championship driver's title with a second place finish on Rallye Monte Carlo.

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Elfyn Evans behind the wheel of his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 on Rallye Monte Carlo

The North Wales star finished 51.8 seconds behind event winner Oliver Solberg in the calendar’s opening event.

In third place was Toyota TGR-WRT teammate Sebastien Ogier, who had pipped Evans to the world title last season.

Solberg led the rally from the second stage on Thursday evening, and the 24-year-old becomes the youngest ever winner of Rallye Monte-Carlo in the modern era.

The result is the first podium lockout by a single manufacturer on the event since 2015, and the first time that Toyota has achieved the feat.

While Rallye Monte-Carlo is famed for winter weather conditions on the roads of the French Alps, this year’s edition was the most demanding for many years.

Most of the stages were covered in a combination of snow, ice, rain and mud, with very little in the way of dry asphalt.