DDOLGELLAU’S Elfyn Evans has made a solid start to the final and decisive round of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship season, with the Toyota Gazoo Racing star determined to keep his championship rivals at bay in Rally Italia Sardegna.

Evans heads into the weekend holding a 17-point advantage over Sami Pajari and a 21-point lead over Oliver Solberg, knowing a strong result on the gruelling Sardinian stages could secure a maiden world title.

While Solberg, fresh from victory in Chile, grabbed the early lead after Thursday’s opening Ittiri Arena super special stage, Evans remained firmly in contention. The Welshman was third fastest, just 1.1 seconds off the pace, after going head-to-head with fellow title rival Pajari.

The opening stage was only a brief introduction to what promises to be one of the toughest rallies of the season, with Evans expecting road position to play a major role when the action intensifies on Friday.

“It’s good to get this final rally started,” said Evans. “Everything’s feeling alright and this first stage went fine for us, but we know that the real challenge will start tomorrow morning.

“The later date for the rally this year hasn’t changed the demands of this rally. After a long and hot summer it’s still looking very dry and loose, so it could be tough tomorrow running first on the road.

“We’re not in a position to just cruise around, so the target like normal needs to be to drive well from the start, try to stay in touch and see how things play out.”

Toyota occupies the top four positions after the opening stage, but with three of its drivers still in the hunt for a first world title, all eyes will be on Evans as he looks to maintain his championship advantage and bring the crown back to Wales.

Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala said yesterday: “It’s exciting to be here in Sardinia, which hosts the final rally of the season for the first time and what I’m sure will be an epic battle between three of our crews; the first time that three are all fighting to become world champion for the first time in the deciding event.

“This is always a tough rally and it seems unlikely that anything will be settled before the end of the last stage on Sunday.

“The most important thing for all three contenders in this first stage was to get through it cleanly, but they all set good times as well, so we can see they are up for the fight before the real challenge begins tomorrow.”