DOLGELLAU’S Elfyn Evans clinched victory in Rally Sweden, leading Toyota Gazoo Racing to a 1-2-3-4 finish, solidifying his status among the top non-Nordic drivers in the event's history.

This is the second year in succession that Evans and co-driver Scott Martin have won the WRC’s only pure winter rally and their third Swedish success in total. That makes Welshman Evans one of the event’s most successful drivers from outside the Nordic countries, as he matches the number of victories achieved by team-mate Sébastien Ogier as well as Kenneth Eriksson and Tommi Mäkinen.

Evans’ victory came after an exciting battle with team-mate Takamoto Katsuta that went down to the final day. Evans had conceded the lead to Katsuta late on Friday after facing tough snowy conditions running second on the road, but regained the initiative on Saturday and took a lead of 13.3 seconds into the last leg.

Evans and Katsuta claimed a stage win apiece from Sunday morning’s double pass of the Västervik stage but Evans did enough in the rally-ending Power Stage to seal victory by 14.3s. He also pipped Katsuta by one second to top the Super Sunday classification and came second on the Power Stage, just 0.1s from the best time, to take a strong haul of 34 points and claim the championship lead.

Guided by co-driver Aaron Johnston, Japanese driver Katsuta once more thrived on the fast snow-covered roads, finishing on the podium for the second Rally Sweden in succession and for the eighth time in his WRC career.

Young Finnish driver Sami Pajari also shone in the winter conditions, putting a difficult Rallye Monte-Carlo behind him to finish third overall together with co-driver Marko Salminen. After two stage wins on Saturday, Pajari entered the final day within 12.1s of Katsuta and eventually secured his second career podium, matching the third place he achieved at Rally Japan 2025.

Sweden’s own Oliver Solberg arrived at his home event leading the championship after a stunning Rallye Monte-Carlo win, but this brought a challenging first full day on Friday opening the snowy roads. He and co-driver Elliott Edmondson later recovered to finish fourth.

Italian driver Lorenzo Bertelli once more enjoyed the experience of driving one of his favourite rallies. Making an enthusiastic and welcome return to the WRC service park after two years away, Bertelli and co-driver Simone Scattolin finished 15th overall following some time lost with tyre damage on Friday morning.

TGR-WRT Chairman Akio Toyoda said: “Elfyn, Scott, congratulations on becoming the snow rally champions for two years in a row,” also praising the younger drivers.

Elfyn Evans said:

“It’s been a great weekend for us and the whole team here in Sweden. The car has been amazing to drive, so a big thanks to the team. It’s an incredible feeling to drive on these fast stages in such nice winter conditions, and when you feel good in the car, it’s always a pleasure.

“We didn’t have a huge margin coming into the final day, and with so many points available on Sundays, we had to push until the end but we can be very happy with what we came away with. It’s been a great start to the year, but it’s still early days and we need to keep working hard.”