DAVID EVANS

“New route and Llandudno were a hit in Wales”

Bloody Andrew Kellitt. Bloody Andrew Kellitt and his silly sodding endurance nonsense.

Apologies for the profanities, but those were my waking thoughts last Sunday. The alarm on my telephone piped up at 0430hrs.

My mood darkened further when I stepped outside the hotel and discovered winter had arrived. I’m a big fan of cold weather, but hacking frost off my car’s windscreen with my hotel key card was not the ideal start to Sunday.

But that mood didn’t last long. Starting the final day with 13.5 seconds separating the top four cars was enough to put a smile on anybody’s face.

And if that didn’t work, a sunny Sunday in Llandudno would do the job. I headed north to the seaside.

“Welcome to Monaco,” beamed rally director Ben Taylor.

I’ve watched Taylor and his team work tirelessly for the last 12 months to make this happen.

Watching a World Rally Car fly over a jump at 167kph [103.77mph] on Llandudno’s promenade was one of the finest moments of my time writing words on these pages.

AK was and is, of course, completely forgiven. Last week’s route was an absolute belter. Super Saturday was the day two that just kept on giving. Stage-after-stage, the cars came and the sun shone. Even when I was standing in the rain, the torrential rain, at Slate Mountain, with cloud so low I could barely see the umbrella above my head, everything was fine. MSA chairman David Richards was standing alongside me in the mud; this was what Rally GB was all about – especially when he offered a cup of tea.

Last week was the first time Richards has viewed Britain’s WRC round from the top of the tree and it was hugely encouraging to hear his talk for the future. With men like DR, Taylor and Kellitt leading the world’s best team of organisers, Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship has never looked stronger or more fit for WRC purpose.

And, let’s not forget, that strength has been tested. Three years ago, we wrapped our arms around our French friends when we awoke to news of co-ordinated terrorist attacks in Paris; I’ll never forget Sebastien Ogier standing at a regroup in Corris, full of emotion, trying to find words to convey his feelings and a way to continue driving.

The very next day, a rally fan stumbled across a dead body in Clocaenog. Like a scene from Silent Witness, spectator areas became crime scenes as men and women in white suits put tents up and went about their business.

And on Sunday, the shine was stripped away from Rally GB’S magical moment in Llandudno, when a child was injured entertaining crowds as he rode his motorbike as part of a display team. All thoughts are with the boy and his friends and family. But the response from clerk of the course Iain Campbell and everybody was world class.

It’s in those moments that experience and excellence shine through.