“Starting this Dakar with Mathieu... a genuine achievement”
Crew facts
G.D.M
- Motor racing is a family affair for the De Mévius clan. Guillaume and his brother Ghislain are following in their father's footsteps. Grégoire has competed in eight Dakar rallies (best result: 8th) and co-founded Overdrive Racing with Jean-Marc Fortin. His second son cut his teeth in rallying in Belgium before securing a drive with Citroën for the 2019 WRC2.
- The native of Namur competed in his first Dakar in 2022 with the Red Bull Off-Road Junior team, which ran the lightweight OT3 prototypes developed by Overdrive. He eventually retired from the rally, but scored a category stage victory. He then took charge of the OT3 project, renamed G Rally Team OT3, with the G standing for the initials of the De Mévius boys. Guillaume competed in his second Dakar in 2023, wearing two hats as manager and driver, sponsored by Nasser Al Attiyah. Leading the T3 category for two days, he finished in an impressive third place.
- The Red Bull programme saw its first talents emerge, including him. He entered the Ultimate category and competed in his first Dakar in 2024. He won stage 1, becoming the first Belgian to win a special stage since Stéphane Henrard in 2003. He finished 2nd overall and confirmed his status as one of the new faces of world rally-raid racing.
- Contacted by several constructors, Guillaume chose Mini for the 2025 edition, impressed by the brand's long-term vision and the three-year contract it offered, as well as by the support provided by X-raid. Mathieu Baumel joined him in the adventure, and they secured a stage victory in their first Dakar together. Problems encountered with the Mini JCW Rally 3.0i prevented them from aiming higher in the general classification (21st).
- Guillaume planned to compete in the 2026 Dakar Rally with Baumel, and he remained fully committed to this plan despite Mathieu's accident, which resulted in the amputation of one of his legs. The Belgian immediately supported him in his intention to return to competition and drove alongside his former navigator, Xavier Panseri, during the Frenchman's rehabilitation.
M.B.
- An extreme sports enthusiast, Mathieu Baumel aspired to become a top-level skier before an injury ended his ambitions. Saddened by his situation, his friend Emmanuel Guigou, then an aspiring pilot, suggested he sit on his right to take his mind off things. The experience proved convincing, and the two men competed for the first time in 1997. Mathieu was 21 years old at the time.
- In 2004, he and driver Guerlain Chicherit excelled in the Volant Dakar, a talent-spotting initiative launched by the Dakar Rally and the FFSA. They debuted in 2005 and attracted attention. Recruited by X-raid, they finished 9th in 2006 and won their first stage. Mathieu's calmness, management skills and navigation abilities were impressive.
- A few years later, the native of Manosque joined Nasser Al Attiyah. The formidable Franco-Qatari duo won the Dakar Rally in 2015, 2019, 2022, and 2023, and were victorious worldwide. Baumel won six world titles, in the FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup (2015, 2016, 2017, 2021) and then in the W2RC (2022, 2023). His partnership with Al Attiyah ended abruptly after the 2024 Dakar Rally. Still, the Frenchman quickly bounced back and teamed up with Guillaume De Mévius and Mini, offering his experience to the young Belgian driver, aiming to guide him to the heights of motorsport.
- His life was turned upside down on 29 January 2025: struck by a car while assisting at the side of the road, Mathieu was in critical condition with serious leg injuries. Difficult days followed, with operations, an induced coma, cardiac arrest and a series of complications. The four-time Dakar winner clung to life but had to make the painful decision to have his right leg amputated, as it was too severely damaged.
- While in the hospital, Mathieu promised himself he would be at the start of the 2026 Dakar Rally. He was told he would need two years of rehabilitation, but he was aiming for 10 months. His family and friends encouraged him. He headed to the rehabilitation centre in Le Grau-du-Roi. Through relentless physical work and tremendous mental resilience, he found himself ahead of the medical predictions. Equipped with prosthetic equipment adapted to his rally-raid needs, he eventually got back in the Mini and then competed in the Baja Parish (2nd). He never doubted that he would be sitting alongside De Mévius in January 2026. He will be there, and not just to make up the numbers, but to fight at the front, as usual.
Ambition
G.D.M.:“Returning to the Dakar with Mathieu after what happened is a great joy, both for what it represents on a human level and because we make a great team. We get on very well. I'm capable of performing well as a driver, and he's capable of performing well as a navigator. I know that from the outside, some people might think that there will be a drop in performance, but I know otherwise. At the 2025 Dakar, we won a stage and proved we were fast. Unfortunately, we lacked reliability and finishing 21st was not the goal, but there were still plenty of positives. Making it to the 2026 Dakar is a real achievement. It hasn't been easy, but we're there, and we're going to battle. A lot of work has been done on the car, especially on reliability. Performance-wise, too, because even though I think we were already there last year, all our rivals are working hard, so we have to keep working! We're a bit of an outsider, but our goal is to finish in the top five."
M.B.: “My accident happened on 29 January 2025. Everything happens very quickly, and you find yourself on the ground in a situation that you know is very bad. You tell yourself that your life is over, but you have to deal with the situation. The life we lead at the Dakar helps me to manage this crisis: as a good co-driver, I organise everything. I called my family, the emergency services, and gathered my papers while I was still lucid. At that point, we didn't know whether I would live. After several difficult days, the doctors explained the two possible scenarios. I decided to have my right leg amputated, as there was little chance that I would ever be able to use it again, and even if I did, it would take ten years. In my mind, it was clear: my goal was to be at the Dakar in January 2026. It allowed me to keep smiling and stay hopeful. I said "yes" to everything and did more than what was asked of me to speed up my recovery. At the end of July, I was in the car with Guillaume and X-raid to see if it was possible to do the Dakar. It was painful, and I was putting twice as much strain on my left leg, but I felt good. After that, we competed in the Baja Sharish. I was tired, but we finished.
"The doctors congratulated me because they always said "yes" to keep me motivated, but they never imagined I would be able to race again so quickly. It's also thanks to my prosthetist, because I have a flexible socket that lets me sit in my seat without pain. I have a system that disconnects the top and bottom of the prosthesis, so I can get down on one leg and choose what I want. It will be different and more difficult for me, but I can't quantify how much. I'm not going there just to make up the numbers, but to compete at the front. Winning the Dakar again would be huge, but what's already great is being the first amputee in the history of the Dakar to compete in a top-tier car. Just being at the start is already a small victory. We're setting out to do well, and we'll see how it goes, both physically and technically, because we know that anything can happen in the Dakar. It's not always easy, but when you give yourself the means, there are always great things to achieve in life, even if mine will never be the same again.”
