A Swiss rally champion and two-time winner of the Rallye du Valais, Switzerland’s biggest motorsport event, Laurent Reuche has been working with Renault Sport Technologies’ teams on the development of the Clio R3T.

Given that pedigree, the man from Neuchatel was the perfect candidate for showcasing the attributes of the Clio R3T in the penultimate round of the European Rally Championship.

After posting the fastest 2WD time in the second special at Crans-Montana, he led the class standings at the end of day one.

Picking up the pace in the Clio R3T, Laurent Reuche stretched his lead with a string of stage wins on day two. Despite suffering a late scare with a puncture in the final stage, he held firm to win the event, having posted 13 fastest times in 19 specials.

Driving a second Clio R3T for Renault Suisse, Michael Burri and Anderson Levratti took third place on the 2WD podium.

Speaking afterwards, Renault Sport Technologies Team Manager Sylvain Alanore said : “Laurent Reuche and Jean Deriaz turned in a first-class performance. Aside from a very satisfying result, they also worked very hard with the whole team to get the Renault Clio R3T’s set-up just right for an especially unique rally. They know these types of roads very well and that really helped us come up with a competitive car for them.”