Oliver Solberg has “no regrets” after last-gasp WRC title heartbreak

It was head-to-head competition in its purest, simplest form: whoever was quickest of Toyota Gazoo Racing teammates Elfyn Evans and Oliver Solberg on Rally Italy Sardinia’s bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage would be a first-time FIA World Rally Champ.

Solberg, who’d erased a 21-point deficit to Evans over three ferociously-committed days on the Mediterranean island’s rough gravel stages, was already 1.9s up on his rival with just two corners of the final stage of the 2026 season to go. A couple hundred yards and the crown would be his.

But the 25-year-old Swede went slightly wide entering the penultimate corner, glancing a trackside bush that hooked his Yaris GR Rally1 and sent it off the stage through vegetation and sand.

He powered through the silt, regained the stage and powered to the finish line, but in those season-defining moments, that 1.9s advantage had become an 8.9s deficit. After five WRC runner-up finishes, Evans was champion at last.

Solberg (lead image, above) admits the pain of missing out on the FIA World Rally Championship title will take time to process - but insists he has no regrets after taking the fight to the very end.

“I tried my very best right to the end and that’s all I can say,” he said. “It hurts a lot, but I don’t have any regrets.

“If I hadn’t tried hard enough and had just lost the time, I would probably struggle with it even more. But at least I tried, and somehow I got the chance to fight for it, which in the end is incredible.

“I’m a little bit proud as well, but it hurts a lot. This was my whole dream and I thought I actually could do it, so it’s a strange feeling.”

Until his penultimate corner error, Oliver Solberg had bossed Rally Italy Sardinia and looked set to grab a first WRC title. The rally win was little consolation.

Despite losing those crucial seconds on the final Sardinian stage, Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson still completed their third win of the season, adding to victories on the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally and Chile’s penultimate round.

The duo were promoted to Toyota’s top-tier Rally1 squad after a 2025 season that included winning the second-level WRC2 crown and taking a memorable overall win on Rally Estonia in a one-off Rally1 drive.

A run of erratic results followed Solberg’s Monte Carlo win. But from Greece’s eighth of 13 rounds onward, he comprehensively outscored Evans, collecting 106 points across the run to Sardinia.

Oliver Solberg congratulates newly-minted WRC champ Elfyn Evans after Sardinia’s final-stage drama.

“To actually be there at the end with a chance is incredible,” said Solberg.

“But it just hurts a lot. I struggle talking about it.

“At least it’s still been a great year in the end. I’ve learned a lot and I have no regrets. I just need to look forward to the future, take the positives, and hopefully have many years ahead to try again.”

Had Oliver taken the title in Sardinia, he’d have been the second generation of Solbergs to do so. His father, Petter, was the 2003 WRC champion with Subaru, and offered some perspective on his son’s near miss.

“The title was probably further away than people expected coming into the rally – but not for him,” said Petter. “He was sure he was going to fight for the world championship this weekend. His motivation is so high, he believes so much and he loves rallying so much.

“You have to learn from [not winning the title]. But you also have to understand that if you already have the speed, and you keep gaining more and more experience, then you can start thinking about strategy and everything else. It can all come together very well for the future.

“Now we have to cry a little bit more and be disappointed a little bit more, and maybe [soon] he’ll look back at what he has actually done this [in Sardinia].”

Petter Solberg (sitting) tries to make sense of what’s just happened after his son, Oliver, just failed to add the 2026 WRC crown to his dad’s 2003 triumph.

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