// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Wales' Evans wins first World Rally Championship after rival's late crash
Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin won two rallies in the 13-race 2026 WRC season
Five-time runner-up Elfyn Evans is world champion for the first time after rival Oliver Solberg crashed in a dramatic finish to the Rally Italia Sardegna.
Sweden's Solberg was on course to snatch the lead in the World Rally Championship (WRC) when he crashed with less than 100 metres to go on the final stage.
"It hasn't sunk in," said a shocked Evans, who is the first Welsh world champion.
"I was sure it was over. I feel for Oliver, he had an incredible weekend. I don't know what to say."
The 37-year-old from Dolgellau in north-west Wales had led for much of the 2026 season and took a 21-point advantage into the final round in Sardinia.
That gap had shrunk to a solitary point by the time the drivers lined up for the last of 17 stages.
Solberg, 25, needed only to beat Evans in the final stage to claim enough bonuses to be champion, but crashed two corners from the finish.
Evans becomes only the third British man to win the WRC title after Colin McRae in 1997 and Richard Burns in 2001.
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