Wheel of fortune: Toyota salvages Portugal podium

GRAVEL trouble hit Toyota late in Portugal, but Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin still reached the podium and added key championship points.
Photographs courtesy of Gazoo Racing
PORTO, Portugal — Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team came away with a double podium finish at Rally de Portugal after a late setback cost Sébastien Ogier a possible victory in the sixth round of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship.
Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais looked set to win the gravel rally after a strong run through wet and difficult stages on Saturday.
They held a 17.3-second lead after the first two stages on Sunday on the sandy roads northeast of Porto.
The race turned into the penultimate stage at Vieira do Minho. Ogier stopped to change a wheel and tire after trouble in rutted and rocky conditions.
The stop cost him around two minutes and dropped him out of the lead.

OLIVER Solberg and Elliott Edmondson moved up after the late drama and finished second overall for Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team.
McKlein
Teammate Sami Pajari also stopped in the same stage after a similar problem, which ended his bid for a fifth straight podium with co-driver Marko Salminen.
The late drama opened the door for Toyota team-mates Oliver Solberg and Elfyn Evans. Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson finished second overall, 16.3 seconds behind winner Thierry Neuville of Hyundai. Evans and co-driver Scott Martin took third, 29.1 seconds off the winning time.
Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe won the rally in their Hyundai i20 N Rally1 with a total time of three hours, 53 minutes and 1.7 seconds.
Adrien Fourmaux finished fourth for Hyundai, followed by Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta in fifth. Ogier ended up sixth, while Pajari settled for seventh.
Toyota still gained valuable points from the weekend. Solberg and Evans finished first and second in the Super Sunday classification.
Evans also set Toyota’s best time in the rally-ending Power Stage with the third-fastest run overall.
Evans extended his lead in the drivers’ championship to 12 points over Katsuta. Solberg moved up to third in the standings, 31 points behind Evans.

