Elfyn Evans narrowly misses out on the title, losing to Sébastien Ogier after "a difficult rally but a very good season".

No crown for Elfyn Evans, who finished 6th in the Saudi Arabian Rally after a difficult weekend marked by a catastrophic puncture. He conceded the 2025 WRC championship title to Sébastien Ogier and thus finished as runner-up for the fifth time.

Published 29/11/2025 à 14:13

Louise of the Manor

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Elfyn Evans narrowly misses out on the title, losing to Sébastien Ogier after "a difficult rally but a very good season".

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The world champion was only determined in the very last moments of the season. WRC 2025 but Elfyn Evans will ultimately have seen her title hopes slip away in Saudi Arabia, the Power Stage sealing her fate.

Before the latter rally At the start of the season, the Welshman led the WRC championship, three points ahead of the Frenchman. Elfyn Evans battled all weekend against Sébastien Ogier in difficult conditions. The two leading drivers started the Saudi Arabia rally in trouble, penalized by the order of passage. They thus finished the first day seventh for Ogier and ninth for Evans.

However, the two men's troubles were far from over. The second day proved particularly trying for Evans, who suffered a puncture. Thanks to a lightning-fast wheel change in 1:38, he was able to get going again, but had to settle for ninth place, while Ogier, also affected by a slow but inconsequential puncture, climbed back up to fifth.

Ogier crowned champion, Evans' hopes dashed

At the end of this third day, the Cardiff native eagerly awaited Sébastien Ogier's passage and commented: It was a difficult rally, of course. he concedes. We did what we could. The puncture certainly didn't help, but that's part of the game on this rally; everyone had problems. We did what we could, that's all. We're competitors, we always want to do better, but yes, it's been a very good season with a fantastic team that pushed us to the very end. Thank you to everyone at Toyotasuperb work »

With a victory in SS16 and a second place in the Power Stage, the final day confirmed Ogier as world champion, thus equaling the legendary Sébastien Loeb with his ninth world title. Elfyn Evans, for his part, will have to settle for his fifth world championship runner-up title.

ALSO READ > Saudi Arabia Rally – Sébastien Ogier equals Sébastien Loeb with a 9th world title

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Yves-Henri RANDIER

29/11/2025 at 04:29 a.m.

Three-time World Championship runner-up, he must be cursing his illustrious French teammate somewhere! The double reign of the Sébastien brothers over world rallying has overshadowed other talented rally drivers, much like the tennis players who had the misfortune of experiencing the era of the DFMN quartet (Djokovic, Federer, Murray, Nadal).

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