Canary Islands Rally 2026, SS4: Ogier immediately returns to the lead

It’s an immediate return to the top for Sébastien Ogier at the end of the first half of Day 2 in the Canary Islands, where the reigning world champion returned to competition after missing the last round in Croatia. Following a first day where he hadn’t particularly shone, the Frenchman completed his comeback during the morning, contrary to what was done by Takamoto Katsuta, winner of the first stage but currently out of the podium zone and in fifth position, despite enjoying a good lead over the Hyundais, which are clearly struggling.

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SS1-SS4: Toyota dominance

On the first day of the Rally Islas Canarias, only SS1 took place, at the end of which the world leader Takamoto Katsuta continued his positive streak of results with the best time set at the Las Palmas stadium in Gran Canaria. Behind the Japanese driver, Toyota completed a one-two with Sami Pajari, but surprisingly, finishing in third position was Roberto Daprà driving the Skoda WRC2. A commendable performance for the Italian driver, ahead of the returning Dani Sordo, in a first stage that was, on the contrary, disappointing for Ogier, Neuville, Evans, and Solberg, in order from 7th place downwards. Ogier, however, redeemed himself in this morning’s first stage, with Katsuta slipping to sixth place instead, in a classification featuring many Toyotas in the top six. A success for the nine-time world champion, which allowed him to move directly into the lead ahead of Solberg, remaining there also in SS3, which was not contested, incredibly, due to the public. The latter, in the Tejeda – San Mateo section, parked their cars (over 100) inside a protected area near the stage. For this reason, race control was forced to cancel the stage, with SS4 concluding once again with Ogier in the lead, ahead of Evans by as much as 4 seconds. The latter, however, managed to climb to third overall behind Pajari, with Katsuta still delivering an uninspired performance in 5th place. This is therefore the classification awaiting the next four stages scheduled for the afternoon.

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Rally Islas Canarias 2026, standings after SS4 (Top-10)