Evans is set to take over the 2pm-5pm show in September, displacing 'Big Brother's Little Brother' host Dermot O'Leary, who will be found another slot according to the BBC.
Evans chose his appearance today at the Radio Festival in Edinburgh to publicly sign the contract and apologise to Radio 1 controller Matthew Bannister for quitting his Radio 1 breakfast show in 1997 and joining Virgin shortly after.
Evans walked out on Radio 1 after Bannister refused to agree to his demand not to work on Fridays.
"Radio 2 is as big as it gets, as good as it gets," he said today, confirming his return to regular media work after a long break following the £225m sale of his company Ginger Productions to Scottish Media Group in 2000.
It is unclear whether Evans will be available to work for commercial broadcasters, who are looking for a big name figure to present networked programming in order to regain listeners from BBC stations. Radio 2 is a big thorn in their side, with 13.3m listeners.
Evans' experience of presenting a commercial breakfast show for Virgin Radio, paired with his high-profile TV presenting career, including 'The Big Breakfast', 'TFI Friday' and 'Don't Forget Your Toothbrush', is attractive for the commercial companies.
They were able to get him to front UK Radio Aid, the 12-hour networked live broadcast which raised money for victims of the Asian tsunami, but then saw Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas offer him a number of bank holiday shows on the station, leading to today's deal.
"Chris is one of the UK's most innovative broadcasters and I'm delighted that he's joining Radio 2's roster of first-class presenters to host this weekend show," Douglas said.
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