Now, that is how you put your stamp on a weekend. Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson delivered a beautifully measured three-day performance across demanding tyre management, abrasive roads, and constantly shifting conditions to take victory at Rally Chile by 16.6sec.
The 24-year-old seized the lead on Friday's opening stage. Aside from a brief moment surrendering it to Elfyn Evans following stage two, the beast of a machine was kept firmly in control right to the finish.
Of course it was looking pretty positive this morning, but these things happen. We keep at it.
It marks the third WRC victory of his career and his second of 2026, building neatly on his season-opening Rallye Monte-Carlo triumph and his breakthrough Rally1 Toyota debut win in Estonia last year. Sunday morning brought immediate pressure when championship leader Evans won the opening Carampangue test to slash the gap to 13.2sec. But Solberg answered instantly on the first pass of BIOBÍO, going fastest despite right-rear tyre damage to push his advantage back out to 14.5sec.
Then the rally turned completely on its head. Running second and looking safe for a major haul of points, Evans stopped to change a wheel on the penultimate Carampangue stage. More than two minutes vanished into thin air, dropping the Welshman down to fifth overall. That dramatic delay pushed Sébastien Ogier into second and Adrien Fourmaux into third, leaving Solberg with a 13.3sec cushion ahead of the rally-ending Wolf Power Stage. True to form, there was no cruising to the finish. Solberg went fastest by 0.5sec over Evans on the power stage to seal the win in style.
“It’s been an unbelievable weekend,” Solberg said. “It’s been up and down, but the team always supported, always pushed, always believed. Finally a little bit of luck was on my side, and I could just focus on my job and do my thing. The little details matter, and this weekend was a perfect, perfect weekend.”
Behind him, Ogier's runner-up finish brought another staggering landmark: the Frenchman secured his 120th WRC podium, drawing him level with fellow nine-time champion Sébastien Loeb (yes, that Sébastien Loeb). Fourmaux took third for Hyundai 33.3sec from the lead to secure his 13th career WRC podium. Sami Pajari inherited fourth place, finishing 1min 33.9sec behind the winner after failing to match the blistering pace that previously brought him three consecutive victories in Estonia, Finland, and Paraguay. Evans salvaged fifth and bounced back to go second-fastest on the Wolf Power Stage to grab vital bonus points.
“Obviously we tried to be as efficiently fast as we could,” Evans said. “Of course it was looking pretty positive this morning, but these things happen. We keep at it.”
That puncture has blown the drivers' title race wide open. Evans stays on top, but Solberg's victory pulls him within 21 points of the championship lead, with Pajari sitting just four points ahead. That leaves October's Rally Italia Sardegna as a crucial battleground, where Evans must leave the penultimate round at least 36 points clear of every rival to secure the crown before the Saudi Arabia finale.
The result also capped an extraordinary weekend for Toyota. Arriving in Chile needing just seven points to mathematically secure the manufacturers' championship, the Japanese marque wrapped it up with two rounds still remaining. It is their sixth successive crown—stretching an unbeaten run that began in 2021—and their 10th overall, drawing them level with Lancia as the most successful manufacturer in WRC title history. Toyota's championship story now spans more than three decades, beginning with their first crown in 1993, followed by 1994, 1999, 2017, 2018, and the current dominant streak.
Further down the order, Yohan Rossel claimed WRC2 victory for Lancia, Robert Virves secured the WRC2 Challenger crown, and Ali Türkkan was crowned the 2026 FIA Junior WRC champion.
