No change for leader Evans after WRC drops finale

World Rally Championship leader Elfyn Evans says his approach to next month's Rally Italia Sardegna will not change following the cancellation of the series' final round.

November's Rally Saudi Arabia has been cancelled because of the ongoing unrest in the Middle East.

That means the title will be decided in Italy from 1-4 October, with Evans holding a 17-point lead over team-mate Sami Pajari, while a third Toyota driver Oliver Solberg is a further four points behind.

"I don't see it changing things too much," the 37-year-old Welshman told the BBC.

"Of course, the target for Sardinia was anyway to deliver the best that we can."

A third win of the season would guarantee Evans his first world title, but with a maximum 35 points available, the five-time runner-up needs at most to garner 19 to become only the third British WRC champion, following Colin McRae and Richard Burns.

"With the points system we have, and so many available on Sunday specifically, then it does leave things very open," added Evans, who has averaged just over 19 points per rally this season.

"And with that in mind, I think we have to start the event anyway with a target to score as many points as possible."

Up to five bonus points are available on the final stage, along with five for the best driver over Sunday's final four runs. The overall winner collects 25 points, with 17 for second place and then dropping from 15 to 12 and on down to one for 10th place.

"Scoring within 17 points of my rivals will be the main target," said Evans, speaking at the launch of the BBC's return to coverage of the WRC from next year.

"Of course in order to achieve that, what exactly you need to deliver won't be obvious. So with that in mind, we have to go there and put on our best performance and see what comes by the end."

Having narrowly lost out twice to Sebastien Ogier in the final rally of the year in both 2021 and 2025 - as well as finishing second overall in 2020, 2023 and 2024 - Evans will take nothing for granted when he lines up in Alghero.

However, this time he looks closer than ever to finally joining McRae (1995) and Burns (2001) as British WRC winners.

"Well, of course we always like to think so, but we know in sport that nothing is guaranteed," he added.

"So it's one round left for us now, we'll be trying to do everything we can to secure the title at the end of it."