WATCH: Sun shines on the return of a brilliant rally

But beyond Ross Le Noa and Domonic Volante’s victory, having clocked 1hr 16min. 36.6sec. for the roughly 58 stage miles, countless organisers, drivers and supporters were left basking in the glory of Guernsey’s biggest and best rally yet.

Competitively speaking, home stars Craig Robert and Chris Guille put in a blistering performance for runner-up within 20sec. of the winners.

And the UK-Jersey crew of Ed Fossey and Connor Carre claimed third on their Guernsey Rally debut in 1-17-57.9.

But a big win for the wider community was having the stages all going ahead as planned, with no significant delays, and spectators gathering en masse in generally beautiful conditions to make the most of this sporting spectacle.

• Watch: Jersey’s Ross Le Noa led the way once again as Craig Robert provided the local challenge

After the ceremonial start by multiple World Touring Cars champion Andy Priaulx, a triple-figure crowd lined the spectator area for the new Lihou stage that opened the action on Friday afternoon.

Over a snappy 0.87-miler blending the technical Lihou headland with a fast main road start and finish, Le Noa and Volante showed promising pace and consistency. Their times ranged from a record-setting 1-02.2 at best to 1-03.3 at worst.

The Ford Escort MK2 stars already held a 4sec. advantage on the next-fastest crew, Fossey and Carre in their Proton Satria Millington. Fossey had recently sped to victory in the South Downs Stages at Goodwood.

Another 1sec. behind, Jersey's Darryl Morris and Steve Gully were getting the most of their Skodia Fabia R5’s comparatively small 1.6-litre engine, with Guernsey prospects Dale Crowsley and Will Rutherford in reach and the No 2 seeded Sarnian pairing of Paul Trebert and Jason Carre a more distant fifth.

The leaders carried this momentum into Friday’s relatively fast and flowing night stages at Vale and Vaugrat, after which they led by 18sec.

Morris and Gully had snatched that second spot, aided by Fossey and Carre hitting a chicane on their tenth run and sustaining a penalty – leaving them third and 46sec. off the lead.

That paled to the misfortunes of Crowsley and Rutherford, who faced a few car issues, culminating in their extinguisher system being deployed by a freak incident and forcing them to retire before the last two night stages.

They fitted a new system overnight and gamely continued the next morning, albeit shackled with an insurmountable 30min. penalty.

‘It’s not everyday you have something like this on your doorstep,’ Rutherford said after an enjoyable and lower-pressure Saturday of rallying.

‘You can't do a toys-out-the-pram kind of thing.’

Robert and Guille had by then taken over the Sarnian challenge, having finished the night fourth overall but still 55sec. off the lead.

Saturday morning brought crews into the rural parishes of St Andrew’s and St Saviour’s for technical racing in variable conditions.

The rain came early on and that was when Robert and Guille, running at No 15, began slashing into the leaders’ advantage.

There was plenty to be gained on these protracted runs, with St Andrew’s at 3.2 miles being the longest Guernsey Rally stage to date, and they had the local knowledge to do so.

By Saturday lunchtime, there was only 31sec. in it.

‘The wet weather played to our advantage,’ Guille said.

‘We haven't quite got the horsepower of Ross, so we needed a bit of local knowledge and a bit of moisture from the sky to help us.’

That set them up for an epic finale on the concluding Reservoir and Petit Bot stages. The latter is a rollercoaster with the biggest elevation changes of the rally and a double hairpin ideally positioned for spectators.

In sunny conditions that would have been welcomed by most, Robert and Guille continued to make headway on the leaders – but not quite enough.

Although Le Noa backed up his 2023 title for a sixth successive victory, usual co-driver Volante had endured a longer wait to reclaim top spot after having to call on a replacement last time out.

‘It does feel good,’ Volante said.

‘It’s been a few years since I’ve been here – last year there was no rally and the year before I ended up having a child, so I didn’t come. It’s good to be back.’

Although the Jersey Rally is notoriously difficult for many, and all but eight crews finished this weekend’s challenge, Volante admitted it was far from plain sailing from a visitor’s perspective.

‘Back home, because you know most of the roads, it’s kind of easy. Here’s not so easy.’

Fossey and Carre won Class E for four-wheel drives after reclaiming their lead from Morris and Gully.

Meanwhile, Trebert and his own co-driving Carre topped C after finishing sixth overall and second local crew in 1-20-17.3.

Chris Torode and Nick Saunders took FWD2 honours in 1-21-46.1.

The UK’s Andy Corner and Ade Camp also registered a category victory, having dominated Class B with 1-22-47.8.