Rough roads and loose rocks are set to make Rally Saudi Arabia, let alone the title showdown, an unpredictable affair
Photography by Toyota
Words by Luke Barry
Expect the unexpected.
Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans’ words, not ours.
Arguably, this mantra applies to all rounds of the World Rally Championship, but it’s never been more true of Rally Saudi Arabia.
A unique challenge in its own right, ot just so happens to be the season finale, with three drivers still capable of becoming world champion.
Ogier hasn’t hidden his feelings that he doesn’t believe Saudi Arabia is an appropriate location for a season showdown.
“It should be the most exciting part of the season, but it feels a bit strange, if I’m honest,” Ogier told DirtFish.
“OK, I will focus on what I can control, like always, and do my best. But I have to say, doing recce was a bit hard mentally to see that we have to play the final in this kind of road. The element of luck will be very big this weekend and we hope to stay out of trouble and have a decent fight with Elfyn.
“A fight that we will deserve, I would say, after such an intense season together. But, yeah, let’s also not rule out Kalle [Rovanperä] after all, because with this condition, absolutely anything can happen.”
On any other rally, it would be easy to write Rovanperä out of this. He’s 24 points behind with just 35 left to play for. But the extremity of the challenge ahead means the likelihood of Evans or
Ogier running into problems – which realistically Rovanperä needs to become champion – is increased.
“Yeah, obviously for us it’s a bit less stressful than for them,” Rovanperä admitted. “I will just go for it pretty much all in and I see at the end of the weekend what I get with that.
“In my opinion it’s still not the most enjoyable rally to end the season but I don’t need to complain so much. It is what it is and we’ll see what we get.”
Although Ogier’s been the most vocal, it’s Evans who arguably has most to lose by the nature of this season-defining rally. He leads the race, and has never been world champion before.
But his perspective on that is different to what you’d might expect.
Evans is in a relaxed frame of mind ahead of the title decider
“Of course you work your whole career to have a chance at this moment, but you know it can change in an instant also for good or better,” Evans reflected.
“[I’ve] just got to get the head down and get on with it. I have no championships at the start, and maybe I still have none at the end, so I’ve nothing to lose either.”
So what is it about Saudi Arabia that presents such a curveball for all drivers, not just the title contenders?
“It’s going to be a tough event, much more rough, much more loose stones than I was expecting,” explained Rovanperä.
“It will be a pretty big lottery with all the stones and stuff because I think it’s the rally where we have easily the most loose stones around. And yeah, obviously you never know where they are after a few cars.”
Road evolution is a massive unknown, as Ott Tänak added: “I guess it’s difficult to really plan anything here, so we just need to go with the flow and try to manage it to the best.
“The roads will develop so quickly that it will be different conditions for every driver, so many surprises. Everybody will have different kind of surprises. So yeah, let’s see who gets the best roads.”
Rough rallies are not new in the WRC, but all the rocks moving around even between the first and second pass on the recce is an added complication.
“This is the most unpredictable thing,” said Adrien Fourmaux, “because we cannot really identify which part will have rocks, ruts etc. Some corners [on shakedown] there was no ruts. It’s really like good push, and the next one, it’s like deep rocks, really crazy I would say and it appears along with the cars passing. So that’s a challenge.
“It’s difficult because you know that you can push,” he added, “and sometimes you will get out of trouble, and sometimes you will push and get it. And at the same time, it doesn’t mean that if you are always doing third or fourth fastest time, you will be out of trouble. It can happen like that. So it’s difficult to find the balance.
“There is places you can push, some less, but at the end, you can have a rock in the middle of the corner, or just at the end of the exit, and you don’t see it before. So yeah, the car needs to be strong to accept that, and we also need to be reactive enough to make the right choice when we see it.”
On roads as rough and demanding as Saudi Arabia’s, it’s tempting to suggest the most effective plan is caution.
That’ll work for some, but not necessarily the title contenders. They’ve still got a championship to be won, so must also ensure they beat their rivals.
Ogier isn't sure what the best strategy is going to be
“It’s very difficult to have a strategy because [there are not] too many elements you can control,” Ogier confessed.
“But of course it’s usually the kind of rally where you cannot afford to go flat out most of the time because the risk level will be too high. But the truth is sometimes even by driving a little bit slower you can pick up the same puncture and the same issue so not so easy to have a clear strategy.”
Rovanperä, as he’s already said, will just go all in and see what comes of it. In his position, that’s his only play – regardless of the rally’s nature.
So what about Evans?
“Our feeling is just to go out there and give the best job we can,” he said. “Of course, there’s going to be an element of using your head on this rally. It’s not going to be a flat-out sprint from start to end, but, you know, we still have to show willing, to try to take the fight to Séb.
“But, of course, we’re going to have to use our head at the same time with some of the bad dips or bad rocks or what have you. Obviously, you’re going to have to probably be quite on alert on the second pass and expect the unexpected.”
Expect the unexpected. At Rally Saudi Arabia, and in the fight to win this year’s World Rally Championship.
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: Rally Saudi Arabia, Rally Saudi Arabia 2025, WRC, WRC 2025
Publish Date November 26, 2025 DirtFish
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