ELFYN Evans has become the first British driver to win on home soil in the FIA World Rally Championship since 2000.

Under sunny skies and in front of more than 100,000 spectators lining the classic stages, the new generation of World Rally Cars caused a stir everywhere they went, from the opening salvo at Tir Prince Raceway, through the forests of mid Wales to the finishing podium in Llandudno.

Frenchman Sébastien Ogier set the pace on Thursday evening, maintaining his supremacy on an event that he won four times in succession from 2013 to 2016.

To the delight of the partisan crowds, however, Evans seized control as soon as the action had moved into the forests the following morning, and it was an advantage that he would never relinquish.

Overcoming not only the threat posed by his rivals, but also challenging weather conditions including dense fog on Saturday evening, the Dolgellau driver made the most of the DMACK tyres on his M-Sport run Ford Fiesta World Rally Car.

Expertly navigated by Lancashire-based co-driver Daniel Barritt, he sprinted clear of his pursuers and ultimately reached the finish line at the end of Sunday’s Brenig Power Stage some 37.3 seconds ahead.

In so doing, Evans joined British rallying legends Roger Clark, Colin McRae and Richard Burns as only the fourth homegrown driver ever to triumph on the event, and the 28-year-old is the first ever Welsh driver to claim a win on any WRC rally.

“It feels pretty good, to be honest,” said Evans, whose father Gwyndaf lifted the British Rally Championship laurels back in 1996. “It’s been a long weekend, and I feel like I could sleep for a week now.

“With Seb winning the overall Drivers’ title and the team the Manufacturers’ championship, it’s been a special day.

“I’ve been very lucky to have a lot of support, not just from my family, but also from a close network of people and obviously M-Sport, and to see everybody there cheering for us at the end of the Power Stage was an incredible feeling - I don’t think Llyn Brenig has ever been so busy.

“After the Shakedown, we knew that if the conditions played in our favour, the speed was there to compete for victory, but you can never second-guess anything on this rally. You need to have a clean run with no problems, punctures, spins or mistakes. That’s often very difficult to achieve, but it’s exactly what we did and everything came together beautifully.

“After Thierry (Neuville) had denied me in Argentina, I was determined that nobody was going to get in my way this time. I like this feeling and now I want to go on and experience it more often.”

Behind Evans, a titanic tussle raged for the runner-up spoils, involving all three of the Drivers’ title protagonists heading into the weekend. Going into the Brenig Power Stage - and the bonus points it offered - a mere 13.5 seconds blanketed second place back to sixth, and it took a determined effort from Hyundai’s Neuville to eventually secure the runner-up spot.

The Belgian pushed harder and harder as the rally progressed as he endeavoured to keep his fading title hopes alive, but it was ultimately not quite enough as third place for Ogier, and two hard-earned Power Stage points proved sufficient for the Frenchman to clinch a fifth consecutive Drivers’ World Championship crown.

Andreas Mikkelsen came on increasingly strong in the latter stages of the rally to pinch fourth from Toyota’s Jari-Matti Latvala by the narrow margin of just half-a-second. Ott Tänak’s sixth place ensured further British success, in guaranteeing M-Sport the Manufacturers’ as well as the Drivers’ World Championship titles - plus, of course, Evans’ rally win.

Ulsterman Kris Meeke wound up seventh in his Citroën C3, ahead of Hyundai’s Hayden Paddon, Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) and Dani Sordo (Hyundai), who completed the final top 10 positions.See this week's edition for all the news and reaction from Wales Rally GB