At the Rallye du Valais 2025, everything revolved around the most beautiful roundabout in the world

Petrolheads and rally fans each get plenty of attractive racing moments at the Rallye du Valais. This event offers pure action with its winding roads and wild drifts in the canton of endless vineyards. This year, there was also a visual treat: amidst fog and drizzle, an unexpected highlight appeared. While traffic roundabouts are often considered boring or even eyesores in Swiss villages, a small village in the Valais suddenly revealed the most beautiful roundabout in the world. Streetwheelz1 was on site and captured the impressions of the race.

The thrilling drives across the mountains and valleys of the Valais are the heart of the Rallye du Valais. But equally important is the place where victory dreams are created: the paddock in Martigny. There, the cars are fixed up before and after the rally stages. Engines are checked, wheels removed and reattached, cars lifted. Technicians work inside the engine bays and the drivers, already in their race suits, prepare for the next route.

For once, the cars that normally rush past at high speed can be seen up close, standing still. So close that even damaged bodywork becomes visible. But that is only cosmetics. Even with torn metal panels you can still drive and secure a good overall ranking. A sense of anticipation fills the service camp. This is where the foundation for victory is laid, but nothing is decided yet. Pure potential, not yet determined. Almost like quantum mechanics: all states are still possible, because the observation — the final race — has not yet taken place. Now is the moment to make up time. During the timed stage, however, history is written. Hopes give way to timekeeping.

After bright sunshine last year, this year brought proper fondue-and-raclette weather along certain parts of the rally route. A post bus travels up to Bruson (Val de Bagnes). Not very often, though. On this race day, dense fog drifted across the idyllic hinterland of the Valais, at times swallowing the picturesque little village that lies opposite the famous ski resort of Verbier. Cold drizzle relentlessly soaked every non-waterproof surface. Staying outside was anything but cosy. But for committed rally fans, it was the right and necessary thing to do. Anyone who braved the weather was richly rewarded as a spectator — especially when standing at the key points of the race route.

One of them was located at the entrance to the village. On steep terrain, the drivers had to tackle a V-shaped curve, and during the sharp left turn, some cars drove on only three wheels. Even the subsequent tail slides were not without risk. As a spectator, you never knew what would happen next — whether the car might still break out. The harsh weather really did not make it easy for the spectators, yet it seemed as if these natural elements were a kind of incentive for the drivers to push even harder. Quite literally by the minute, the visibility changed. At one point, a car disappeared completely behind the wall of fog after only a few dozen metres on what was actually a straight main road — almost as if it were entering an area of a computer game that had not yet been rendered.

Another excellent viewing spot was Bruson Valbord. The village centre consists mainly of historic buildings and wooden chalets. A place almost clichéd in its quaintness — but with an unexpectedly wild focal point. Because it is fair to say: during the race through Bruson, there was another main actor besides the rally teams — the green traffic roundabout. The task in the timed section was to drive around it once, then continue up and out of the village. But amusing slapstick moments occurred when some teams left the roundabout area too early, drove a few metres back downhill until they realised their mistake, turned around and continued. The truly brilliant moments, however, happened when the cars shot around the roundabout at full throttle, the roundabout demonstrating the force of centrifugal power better than any physics lesson ever could. The drifts around the circle were simply spectacular. Almost like figure skaters, the high-horsepower cars glided across the rain-soaked ground — although anything but silently. One car even spun unintentionally before immediately continuing as if nothing had happened. The roundabout became the literal pivot point of the stage and may well have influenced one or another final result.

This traffic roundabout may have driven some rally teams to despair, but it was a source of great joy for anyone wanting to witness spectacular drifts. A roundabout could hardly be more beautiful. Simply the most beautiful one in the world.
// Written by CR

About the Rallye du Valais

The rally has been held annually since 1960.

Winners of the “Rallye du Valais 2025” in the modern cars category were once again Hirschi/Greppin (Citroën C3 Rally2). The other winners were: Brosy/Erismann with their BMW M3 in the “8ieme Rallye Historique”, Udriot/Udriot with their Toyota Celica GT4 Carlos Sainz (“3e Rallye du Valais VHRS”), and Randin/Allenbach with their Toyota Yaris GR (“2e Rallye du Valais VMRS”).

Official website: https://riv.ch