Solberg Wins Rally Chile as Evans Puncture Rewrites the Podium and Title Fight
Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson won Rally Chile by 16.6 seconds, Toyota secured its sixth consecutive manufacturers title, and Elfyn Evans fell from second to fifth after a puncture on the penultimate stage.
ViPeople Motorsport DeskPublished Updated 12 min read
Photograph: WRC official media
Audio articleListen to this storySerena (Enhanced) · English UK
Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson won Rally Chile Bio Bío in 2 hours 57 minutes 08.2 seconds, completing a composed drive across 16 stages and three demanding days. Sebastien Ogier finished 16.6 seconds behind, Adrien Fourmaux took third at 33.3 seconds, and a puncture on the penultimate stage changed Elfyn Evans' weekend from a likely second place into fifth.
The result gave Solberg his third World Rally Championship victory and his second of 2026 after Monte Carlo. It also completed Toyota's manufacturers championship, the team's sixth consecutive crown and its 10th overall. Toyota now shares the WRC record with Lancia.
Solberg won the final Power Stage to complete Rally Chile with six fastest times from 16 stages.Photograph: WRC official media
Solberg led the rally with speed and control
Solberg took the lead on Friday's opening stage. Evans moved ahead after SS2, which became the only stage end across the weekend when Solberg did not lead. Changing grip, abrasive gravel and tyre management kept the rally open, while Solberg built his advantage through a combination of stage wins and measured responses.
He was fastest on six of the 16 stages. Friday ended with a 10.1 second lead. Ogier increased the pressure on Saturday and won four stages during the leg, yet Solberg kept enough tyre performance for the later tests and carried a 19.1 second advantage over Evans into Sunday.
Adrien Fourmaux attacks the final Rally Chile stages on the way to third overall.Photograph: WRC official media
Sunday began with Evans closing the gap
Evans won the first Carampangue run and reduced Solberg's lead to 13.2 seconds. Solberg answered on the first Bio Bío stage, setting the fastest time despite right-rear tyre damage and restoring the margin to 14.5 seconds. The rally had reached its sharpest point, with Evans still second and Ogier waiting behind.
SS15, the second 26.82 kilometre run through Carampangue, changed that order. Evans suffered a front-left puncture while running second and leading the Sunday classification. He stopped to change the wheel, lost more than two minutes and fell to fifth overall.
Ogier inherited second and Fourmaux moved into third. Sami Pajari rose to fourth, while Evans returned to the finish with a stage still to run. He responded with the second-fastest Power Stage time, half a second behind Solberg, and collected four bonus points.
Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe escaped injury when their Saturday challenge ended in a roll on Pelun.Photograph: WRC official media
The front of the rally survived a difficult weekend
Solberg won the Power Stage and secured victory by 16.6 seconds. Ogier's second place became his 120th WRC podium, matching Sebastien Loeb's career total. Fourmaux completed his 13th WRC podium, while Pajari finished fourth after a quieter rally than the three straight victories he carried into Chile.
Esapekka Lappi placed sixth and Josh McErlean finished seventh. Thierry Neuville rolled on Saturday's Pelun stage and did not restart. Nikolay Gryazin also rolled during the leg, while Jon Armstrong returned after his own accident and reached the final classification in 33rd.
Nikolay Gryazin led WRC2 after Friday before his Saturday rollover ended the leg.Photograph: WRC official media
Toyota closes the manufacturers contest
Toyota arrived needing seven points to make the manufacturers title mathematically secure. Solberg's win completed that task with two rounds remaining. Six successive titles extend the team's unbeaten sequence from 2021, and the 10th total crown connects the modern programme with Toyota's earlier championships in 1993, 1994, 1999 and 2018.
The drivers contest remains open. Evans leads with 230 points. Pajari has 213 and Solberg has 209, leaving Solberg 21 points from the lead and four behind Pajari. Fourmaux sits fourth on 171, ahead of Ogier on 167 and Takamoto Katsuta on 163.
Rally Chile 2026 overall classification
Pos
Crew
Car
Time
1
Oliver Solberg / Elliott Edmondson
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
2:57:08.2
2
Sebastien Ogier / Vincent Landais
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
+16.6
3
Adrien Fourmaux / Alexandre Coria
Hyundai i20 N Rally1
+33.3
4
Sami Pajari / Marko Salminen
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
+1:33.9
5
Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
+2:22.3
6
Esapekka Lappi / Enni Malkonen
Hyundai i20 N Rally1
+5:07.0
7
Josh McErlean / Eoin Treacy
Ford Puma Rally1
+7:31.5
8
Yohan Rossel / Arnaud Dunand
Lancia Ypsilon Rally2
+9:31.0
9
Robert Virves / Jakko Viilo
Skoda Fabia RS Rally2
+10:24.0
10
Gus Greensmith / Jonas Andersson
Toyota GR Yaris Rally2
+10:58.2
Yohan Rossel brought the Lancia home for his third WRC2 win of 2026 and his first on gravel.Photograph: WRC official media
Rossel gives Lancia a gravel WRC2 victory
Yohan Rossel and Arnaud Dunand won WRC2, finishing 53.0 seconds ahead of Robert Virves and 1 minute 27.2 seconds ahead of Gus Greensmith. It was Rossel's third WRC2 victory of the year and his first on gravel. Virves secured the WRC2 Challenger title and carried a 41 point advantage over Teemu Suninen towards Sardinia.
Ali Turkkan won WRC3 in Chile as the Rally3 field reached the final Bio Bío stages.Photograph: WRC official media
Turkkan completes two different Chile victories
Ali Turkkan and Oytun Albayrak won WRC3 in 3 hours 19 minutes 14.9 seconds. Felipe Padilla finished second in the category at 3 minutes 48.3 seconds, with Alex Heilbrunn third at 6 minutes 05.3 seconds.
Junior WRC produced a different rally winner and a championship celebration. Leevi Lassila won the final round by 1 minute 20.3 seconds over Turkkan. The second place and stage points gave Turkkan the Junior WRC title, making him the first Turkish driver to win the championship.
Both Indian crews reached the finish
Dean Mascarenhas and Gagan Karumbaiah finished eighth in WRC3 and 28th overall in car 44. Their final time was 3 hours 32 minutes 29.0 seconds. Naveen Puligilla and Musa Sherif completed the rally 12th in WRC3 and 34th overall in car 43 with a time of 3 hours 52 minutes 53.8 seconds.
The two crews faced the same Rally3 field and reached the finish with distinct programmes behind them. Dean and Gagan completed TSI Racing's South American campaign. Naveen and Musa added another classified world championship finish after their Paraguay podium.
WRC3 podium and Indian crews
Class
Crew
Overall
Class time or gap
WRC3 P1
Ali Turkkan / Oytun Albayrak
P19
3:19:14.9
WRC3 P2
Felipe Padilla / Sebastian Olguin
P21
+3:48.3
WRC3 P3
Alex Heilbrunn / Juan Pedro Cilloniz Duclos
P23
+6:05.3
WRC3 P8
Dean Mascarenhas / Gagan Karumbaiah
P28
+13:14.1
WRC3 P12
Naveen Puligilla / Musa Sherif
P34
+33:38.9
Chile sends the title fight to Sardinia
Rally Italia Sardegna runs from 1 to 4 October and is now the scheduled final WRC round. Evans will arrive with the lead, Pajari with a 17 point deficit and Solberg with a 21 point deficit. The WRC element of Saudi Arabia has been removed from the 2026 championship, while the Saudi event remains on the November MERC calendar.
Chile changed the shape of that run-in through one complete performance and one costly puncture. Solberg leaves with 34 event points, a third WRC win and his clearest title opportunity of the season. Evans leaves with the championship lead intact and far less space around it.
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