Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team locked out the podium places for the second time in as many rounds of the 2026 FIA World Rally championship with Elfyn Evans claiming another victory on the snow of Rally Sweden last weekend.
He lead a 1-2-3-4 result for the team in their Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 cars. It follows the team’s clean-sweep of first, second and third on Rallye Monte Carlo in January.
It is the first time that a manufacturer has filled the podium places on consecutive rounds of the WRC since Citroën in 2010. The feat was last achieved on the opening two events of a season when Audi accomplished the feat in Monte Carlo and Sweden in 1984.
It is the second year in succession that Evans and co-driver Scott Martin have won the WRC’s only pure winter rally and their third Swedish success in total. It means Evans now leads this year’s championship by 23pts and Toyota are 51pts ahead in the manufacturers’ table.
Evans and Katsuta claimed a stage win apiece from Sunday morning’s double pass of the Västervik stage but Evans did enough in the rally-ending Power Stage to seal victory by 14.3s.
He also pipped Katsuta by one second to top the Super Sunday classification and came second on the Power Stage, just 0.1s from the best time, to take a haul of 34 points and claim the championship lead.
Guided by co-driver Aaron Johnston, Japanese driver Katsuta once more thrived on the fast snow-covered roads, finishing on the podium for the second Rally Sweden in succession and for the eighth time in his WRC career.
Young Finnish driver Sami Pajari also shone in the winter conditions, putting a difficult Rallye Monte-Carlo behind him to finish third overall together with co-driver Marko Salminen. After two stage wins on Saturday, Pajari entered the final day within 12.1s of Katsuta and eventually secured his second career podium, matching the third place he achieved at Rally Japan 2025.
Sweden’s own Oliver Solberg arrived at his home event leading the championship after an impressive Rallye Monte-Carlo win, but the win brought the challenge of opening the snowy roads on Friday’s opening day.
He and co-driver Elliott Edmondson later recovered to finish fourth, completing the team’s excellent result and banking extra points with third on Super Sunday and fourth in the Power Stage.
The Safari Rally Kenya – the only African round of the WRC – hosts round three on 12-15 March and will be very different over the hot plains.
