Ogier ties record as Evans misses out on WRC title

Sebastien Ogier has won a record-equalling ninth Word Rally Championship (WRC) title, denying Elfyn Evans a first world crown after a controversial Rally Saudi Arabia.

Evans, 36, is now a five-time runner-up despite taking a three-point championship lead into the final round of the season.

Ogier finished third behind winner Thierry Neuville in the Jeddah-based event, also collecting nine bonus points to finish four ahead of Toyota team-mate Evans at the end of the 14-race calendar.

"It was a tough event obviously," said Welsh driver Evans, who finished sixth in Saudi Arabia but did win the final stage to also collect nine final-day bonus points.

"We've done what we can, that's it. We're competitors at the end of the day, we always want better, we always want more."

After equalling Sebastien Loeb's tally of World Championship wins, 41-year-old Ogier said: "What a season that's for sure, what a fight with Elfyn and Scott honestly.

"There is only great champions when you have great opponents – they have been super-strong, pushing us to the limit to the very last stage of the year."

Both Ogier and Evans, along with many other drivers, had criticised conditions in Saudi Arabia, describing the new rally added for 2025 as "a lottery".

The treacherous nature was never more evident than on the penultimate stage when leader Martins Sesks suffered two punctures, Takamoto Katsuta rolled in soft sand and Kalle Rovanpera was forced to stop to change a wheel.

The resulting shake-up in the leaderboard saw last year's world champion Neuville go on to win his first rally of the season, giving Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais breathing space ahead of Evans in the championship race for the first time.

Although the Welsh driver trailed the Frenchman throughout the season-ending rally, up to stage 16 there was rarely more than one point either way between the pair, as the virtual championship leaderboard flip-flopped one way then the other.

Evans has now finished second best to Ogier on three occasions, including 2020 when he again took a championship lead into the final round at Monza only for a crash on treacherous snow-covered roads to cost him the title.

He has also finished second behind Neuville (2024) and Rovanpera (2023) and must wait another year for his chance to become only the third British WRC winner after Colin McRae (1995) and Richard Burns (2001).

Ireland's Josh McErlean placed ninth in the 17-stage event, to finish his first full-time WRC season in 11th overall.

England's Gus Greensmith took the WRC2 honours in Saudi to finish fourth behind second-category championship winner Oliver Solberg, who will drive a Toyota Rally1 car next season.

1. Thierry Neuville (Belgium), Hyundai, 3 hours 21 minutes 17.3 seconds

2. Adrien Fourmaux (France), Hyundai, +54.7secs

3. Sebastien Ogier (France), Toyota, +1min 03.3secs

4. Sami Pajari (Finland), Toyota, +1min 51.7secs

5. Takamoto Katsuta (Japan), Toyota, +1min 59.9secs

6. Elfyn Evans (Great Britain), Toyota, +3min 43.9secs

7. Kalle Rovanpera (Finland), Toyota, +5min 31.5secs

8. Gregoire Munster (Luxembourg), Ford, +7min 07.2secs

9. Josh McErlean (Ireland), Ford, +8min 30.5secs

10. Oliver Solberg (Sweden), Toyota, +10min 00.46ecs

11. Ott Tanak (Estonia), Hyundai, +11min 04.4sec

12. Gus Greensmith (Great Britain), Skoda, +10min 47.3secs

1. Sebastien Ogier (France), Toyota, 293 points

2. Elfyn Evans (Great Britain), Toyota, 289 points

3. Kalle Rovanpera (Finland), Toyota, 256

4. Ott Tanak (Estonia), Hyundai, 216

5. Thierry Neuville (Belgium), Hyundai, 194

6. Takamoto Katsuta (Japan), Toyota, 122

Selected

11. Josh McErlean (Ireland), Ford, 28

14. Gus Greensmith (Great Britain), Skoda, 14