Oliver Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson stormed to their second victory of 2026 in Chile as Toyota sealed a record-equalling 10th WRC manufacturers’ title.
The young Swedish-Norwegian ace driving the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 led for 15 of the 16 stages across three days of demanding, rough gravel roads around the Concepción base to seal a winning margin of 16.6s over nine-time world champion teammate Sébastien Ogier.
In doing so, Solberg also handed Toyota GAZOO Racing the platform it needed to wrap up the 2026 WRC manufacturers’ title – their sixth consecutive since 2021 and 10th in total, equalling Lancia as the most successful manufacturer in the sport’s history.
Adrien Fourmaux claimed the final podium slot for Hyundai 33.3s adrift, while championship leader Elfyn Evans finished fifth after suffering a puncture on the penultimate stage.
Solberg won the very first stage of the rally, the Turquía test, by 1.4s over Evans who responded immediately on the following Nuevo Rere stage to edge 0.4s ahead in the overall standings.
Takamoto Katsuta was forced to retire on the very first stage after running wide on the slippery conditions and beaching his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 on a bank.
Solberg reclaimed the top spot on the third stage, Hualqui 1, and arrived at the midday service with a 2.3-second advantage before dominating all three afternoon stages to finish day one with a 10.1-second buffer over Evans.
Saturday brought the longest competitive leg of the rally with 139.2 kilometres to be covered across two loops of three stages: Pelún, Lota, and the marathon 28.31-kilometre María las Cruces.
Reigning world champion Thierry Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe ran wide on a right-hander just 8.3 kilometres into the opening Pelún test and clipped a bank which launched the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 into a barrel roll. Both crew members escaped without injury but the damage to the car forced them to retire for the day.
Just moments later, M-Sport Ford’s Jon Armstrong suffered a separate roll on SS8, but managed to nurse his car to finish the special stage before retiring from Saturday’s leg.
At the front, Ogier mounted his most sustained assault on Solberg’s lead, winning two stages in the morning loop and at one point reduced the deficit to just 7.2s before a decisive Solberg response on the final María las Cruces stage restored his lead to 10.1s heading into the afternoon.
Ogier dominated the first two stages of the afternoon loop but Solberg saved his best to win the closing María las Cruces stage, extending his overnight lead to 19.1s over Evans.
Sunday’s leg featured four stages and Evans moved immediately to the attack on the opening Carampangue stage, shaving the deficit to 13.2s. Solberg sustained damage to his right-rear tyre but held on to win the 8.78km BioBio test, stretching his lead back out to 14.5s.
However, Evans’ race took a shocking turn on the penultimate stage when he suffered a tyre puncture that forced him to stop. The delay cost him more than two minutes, sending him tumbling from second to fifth in the final classification as Oliver Solberg wins Rally Chile 2026.
Solberg headed into the Wolf Power Stage with a 13.3-second cushion – and rather than play it safe and bring the Toyota home, he attacked once more winning SS16 by half a second over Elfyn Evans.
Sami Pajari emerged as the biggest beneficiary of Evans’ puncture by finishing fourth, with Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi taking sixth ahead of M-Sport-Ford’s Josh McErlean.
In WRC2, Yohan Rossel delivered a dominant weekend for Lancia after inheriting the lead from team-mate Nikolay Gryazin’s Saturday retirement. Rossel beat Skoda championship leader Robert Virves by 53s.
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