Oliver Solberg has written his name into the history books after holding his nerve through a treacherous final leg to become the youngest-ever winner of Rallye Monte-Carlo in the FIA World Rally Championship era.
Co-driven by Britain’s Elliott Edmondson, the 24-year-old Toyota Gazoo Racing driver converted his overnight advantage into a maiden victory in the Principality, surpassing the WRC-era benchmark set by fellow Swede Björn Waldegård in 1970. The result completed a perfect start to the season for Toyota, which locked out the podium on the opening round of the 2026 campaign.
Hayden Paddon and John Kennard finished a credible 11th having dropped to 13th on the previous day.
“This whole experience has been one of the toughest of my life, both mentally and professionally,” commented Paddon. “To back yourself, to not run away from the ultimate challenge, and to step back into conditions as demanding as these while learning a new car from scratch has been humbling in every sense. We had our setbacks over the weekend, but our clear objective was to get to the end – and we achieved that.
“While I’m relieved one of the most difficult Monte Carlo rallies in recent years is behind us, I’m incredibly proud that we took on this challenge head-on. It feels like a weight has been lifted from the shoulders, and now the focus can shift to building performance and taking the next step at the upcoming events.”
Starting Sunday with a seemingly comfortable minute-plus cushion, Solberg’s march to glory was briefly threatened on the morning’s second test. On the icy hairpins of La Bollène-Vésubie, he was caught out and overshot his GR Yaris Rally1, momentarily facing the wrong way. He recovered quickly, shedding only a handful of seconds before regaining his composure on the Col de Turini Wolf Power Stage.
Behind Solberg, Elfyn Evans secured second overall, 51.8sec adrift of the winner. The Welshman delivered a clean final day to fend off lingering pressure from Sébastien Ogier and claim more Super Sunday points than any other Rally1 driver.
Ogier, the nine-time WRC champion and 10-time Monte-Carlo winner, ended 1min 10.4sec further back, admitting he had no answer for his team-mates’ pace in the constantly changing conditions.
Adrien Fourmaux was the only driver able to disrupt Toyota’s dominance, bringing his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 home in a measured fourth place after scoring two stage wins during the rally. Team-mate Thierry Neuville endured a frustrating conclusion to a difficult week, with the Belgian’s hopes of salvaging bonus points ended early on Sunday when he clipped a rock and suffered a puncture, consigning him to fifth.
Sunday morning brought heartbreak for M-Sport Ford, particularly its Irish contingent. Running a superb sixth on his Rally1 debut, Jon Armstrong saw his result unravel just 700 metres into SS16 when he slid off the road and retired.
To compound matters, Josh McErlean, who had already been off the road on Thursday and Friday, also crashed out on the same stage, while Grégoire Munster retired his Puma Rally1 before the day’s opening test with a mechanical issue.
Armstrong’s exit reshuffled the order behind the leaders. Léo Rossel was promoted to an impressive sixth and secured WRC2 victory, while Takamoto Katsuta climbed to seventh overall having previously been plagued by power steering issues on Friday.
The top 10 was completed by WRC2 podium finishers Roberto Daprà and Arthur Pelamourgues, with Eric Camilli rounding out the leaderboard in tenth.
The championship resumes next month at Rally Sweden (12 – 15 February), the season’s only pure winter event, where crews will tackle the frozen forests around Umeå for round two of the 14-round campaign.
Final Results
1/ Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 4h24m59.0s
2/ Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +51.8s
3/ Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +2m02.2s
4/ Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +5m59.3s
5/ Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +10m29.8s
6/ Léo Rossel/Guillaume Mercoiret (Citroën C3 Rally2) +12m58.4s
7/ Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +13m05.4s
8/ Roberto Daprà/Luca Guglielmetti (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +15m07.9s
9/ Arthur Pelamourgues/Bastien Pouget (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) +18m09.4s
10/ Eric Camilli/Thibault de la Haye (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +18m36.4s
11/ Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +18m47.4s
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