“We want to go 1-2-3-4 if we can!”
Crew facts
M.G.
- Mitchell 'Mitch' Guthrie Jr is gearing up for his sixth Dakar in 2026, and his second in the Ultimate class. Part of the Ford M-Sport armada alongside Carlos Sainz, Nani Roma and Mattias Ekström, the 29-year-old American had a seriously impressive debut in the top cars class last year, finishing fifth overall.
- In 2025, Mitch and co-driver Kellon Walch took solid results at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (5th) and the Rallye du Maroc (7th) in the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC). They also conquered Vegas to Reno in their factory Polaris RZR.
- Motorsport is in the blood for Mitch; his father Mitch Guthrie Senior is a legendary UTV racer with six wins at the King of the Hammers. Mitch began competing at age 11 in the CORR Series, working his way up through the American offroad scene at the Lucas Oil Off Road, WORCS and Best In The Desert Series. In 2018 and 2019 he also won King of the Hammers, becoming the first back-to-back champion since his father. He then topped the Best In The Desert Pro class championship in 2019, which earned him a spot on the Red Bull Off-Road Junior team for Dakar 2020.
- Mitch served notice of his potential with three stage wins on his Dakar debut with Ola Floene, although they suffered engine failure on Stage 7.
- Mitch has been competing alongside Kellon since Dakar 2023, and they came agonisingly close to overall victory in the Challengers in 2024. Leading by 25 minutes at the start of the final day, they saw the title slip through their grasp due to mechanical issues and finished second behind Cristina Gutiérrez.
- Mitch also runs a shop close to where he grew up for the Polaris he races at home.
K.W.
- Kellon Walch is a hugely experienced co-driver who began his racing career on a motorcycle. This will be his 13th Dakar and the fourth in a row alongside Mitch Guthrie.
- Born in Utah in 1983, he was raised in Alamo, Nevada, with "literally hundreds of miles of desert" on his doorstep. His parents knew nothing about racing - his father was a fireman and a high school football coach - but Kellon soon began riding a bike, originally to round up the cattle they kept in the desert.
- After winning a host of local races and championships on the west coast, he was scouted during a KTM rider search and selected for Dakar 2005. In his first and only Dakar on a bike (he was later plagued by injuries), Kellon finished 22nd overall and made headlines by winning the final stage on the shores of the iconic Lac Rose. At the time he was only the fourth American biker to win a Dakar stage after Chuck Stearns, Danny Laporte and Jimmy Lewis.
- Dakar 2005 also saw the first of 10 stage wins for Robby Gordon, with whom Kellon linked up as a co-driver in the cars in 2011. Their best result together was 14th overall in 2013.
- Since the Dakar came to Saudi Arabia, Kellon has also worked with young talents Austin Jones (2020) and Guillaume de Mevius (2022). He joined forces with Mitch Guthrie in 2023.
- Back home, Kellon works as a firefighter in Las Vegas.
Ambition
M.G.: "Last year's fifth place felt like a win for me! I did Dakar and two other world championship races, we got P5, P5 and P7, so I'm happy with that. Kellon and I also won Vegas to Reno, which was a big deal. I've won pretty much every race in the United States, but that was one I didn't have. We took it by 11 seconds after like nine or 10 hours of racing! It's been nice with Ford because I'm the young guy and they're giving me the chance to take my time and learn everything. Of course, now that we've had a good result, we've got to do better. It's good pressure, to keep doing better every time and get closer to the fastest guys. We've done a lot of testing in the new Raptor so I think we're in a good spot. They've changed a bunch of little details, but overall it's pretty similar, and all of us are feeling really comfortable. The Dakar is a long game. On top of being fast, we have a lot of reliability, and sometimes it feels like as hard as you push, you can't hurt the car. I would definitely say Ford M-Sport is a Dakar-winning team. The competition is so stiff, but we have everything we need going into Dakar 2026. We've all had the seat time and we're ready to come out swinging. One really cool thing is the dynamic between all of us. The guys definitely help me out. We're all curious about how things are going so we can make the team better. We want to go 1-2-3-4 at the Dakar if we can!"
K.W.: "I was super stoked for Mitch last year. There was no big pressure on us, the idea was just to finish and get some experience. After Carlos and Nani went out, the team wanted a little more from us, but I don't know if they expected us to go as good as we did. Mitch is always smart and smooth, and we excel on the long, hard stages. There will be more pressure this year. We had our year to gain experience and now it's go time. When I raced on bikes you tried to go endurance style, but now it's like a sprint every day, and it's getting like that with the cars. The pace is faster and faster, and there are so many of us out there, someone is always going to get lucky. So, we've got to up our game a little bit. Luckily Ford are one of the best teams on the bivouac. They want to win, so their attitude is like, what do you guys need to win? It feels like a family. And I feel really comfortable with Mitch. Spending time together in the States is good for that. When you're hanging out all the time in the camper, in the race car, in the tent, it feels like you're in it together and it becomes pretty enjoyable. We want to have fun but we know when to be serious, especially in such a high-intensity sport. And we have the same goals. There's no excuse for us not to win the Dakar! I know Mitch has the pace and mentality, and the Ford is capable of it. Still, coming off a top five, I think top three is a realistic goal. I'd be super stoked to finish on the Dakar podium."
