Elfyn

The school visit was followed by the event in Dolgellau’s Eldon Square, where crowds had gathered despite the persistent rain.

Most of the supporters were local, but some had travelled significant distances to be at the event.

When Elfyn Evans spoke from the podium, he thanked his family for supporting him throughout his career, saying his grandfather had “taught me to drive probably far too early”.

Wyn Williams from Llanrwst and Neil Pringle from Betws-y-Coed were in Sardinia when Evans clinched the championship.

Williams said the celebration was “the icing on the cake after being in Sardinia”.

Pringle added that the evening was “fantastic” and that the first minister’s presence “shows what this means to Wales”.

“This is for Elfyn, his family and the country.”

Heledd Edwards travelled from Talerddig to Dolgellau and described Elfyn’s perseverance as an inspiration.

Several members of Elfyn’s family were also in the crowd. His aunt, Lowri Edwards, had travelled from Glan Conwy, saying she was immensely proud to have a world champion in the family.

“We’re absolutely thrilled, to be honest. He’s come so close and been terribly unlucky, finishing second five times – we’re absolutely thrilled.”

Dolgellau Town Council helped organise the celebration, with Deputy Mayor Nia Wyn Evans, saying: “We are absolutely thrilled and delighted to be able to welcome Elfyn back as a world champion; there’s a real buzz in the town.”

For what must have felt like an eternity, Elfyn Evans feared history was repeating itself yet again.

At 3.05pm local time in Sardinia on Sunday, Evans could only stand and watch as another world rally title looked to be slipping from his grasp.

Evans was preparing in his head yet another runners-up speech – it would be his sixth – as he waited for Oliver Solberg to cross the finish line and be crowned world champion.

How could this be happening again?

Of the five previous times he had been championship runner-up, three had been decided on the final day and twice after he had taken a lead into the final event.

But at 3.06pm, for once the motor-racing gods were on his side.

With just two turns to go on the final stage of the final round and with victory in sight, Solberg somehow careered off the track into the Sardinian sand to hand Evans his first world title.

In the most dramatic of finishes, the 37-year-old from north Wales became the first British winner of the of the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 25 years.

Only two British men had taken the title since the WRC’s 1977 inception, matching the exploits of legendary pair Colin McRae (1995) and Richard Burns (2001).

Louise Aitken-Walker was Britain’s first world champion when WRC ran a women’s version in 1990.

A revamp of the points system for 2025 was welcomed by Evans; it also brought his tightest title race yet.

After second place to Ogier in the Monte Carlo curtain-raiser, the re-energised Welshman won in Sweden and Kenya – rallies the Frenchman sat out.

With a 36-point advantage, Evans had opened up the largest championship lead ever recorded after three rounds of a WRC campaign.

But he would not win again that season and though he never finished lower than sixth, Ogier gradually whittled away at his lead until it came down to just three points with one round to go.

That race was a brand new entry to the calendar, and there was uncertainty over what lay ahead at Rally Saudi Arabia.

The terrain proved brutal for all the drivers. Tyre problems galore saw the leaderboard shifting like the sand. It ended with Ogier in third and Evans in sixth.

The points-swing was seven. The Frenchman had won a record-equalling ninth WRC title by four points, and Evans had fallen just short for the fifth time in six years.

“We’ve done what we can, that’s it,” was his reaction.

“We’re competitors at the end of the day, we always want better, we always want more.”