“A new beginning for me”

Mitchell Guthrie is none other than the son of the legendary racer Mitch Guthrie Senior. Mitch Junior succeeded his father in 2018 and 2019, after winning the WORCS Unlimited Series (2015), the UTV world championships (2016) and the Baja 1000, which he won in 2017, along with the Mint 400, all before his 22nd birthday. A competitive journey that the American could have continued without ever having left the United States. Instead, Mitch decided to take up the challenge proposed by the Red Bull Off-Road Junior team: the Dakar. On the first edition in Saudi Arabia, he won stage 4, before being forced to continue the adventure in the Dakar Experience category due to engine failure. He won two more stages and returned in 2021 only to lose more than four hours in stage 1 with punctures. This didn't dampen the American's enthusiasm and he showed he more than deserved his place by setting the third fastest outright time on stage 4 before suffering another engine problem. Mitch was counting on putting an end to his misfortune on his third Dakar last January but tested positive for Covid just before leaving for Jeddah. Guthrie Junior was reunited with his co-driver Ola Floene on the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge but was once again forced to retire. Then first time at the Rallye du Maroc they finished 5th in class, after which Mitch jumped ship for the Andalucia Rally, driving a brand new 2023 spec T3 entered by the French MCE-5 team in the Open class with the hugely experienced Kellon Walch as co-driver. The car performed well, running at a similar pace to another 2023 spec T3 entered in the Open class and driven by a certain Stephane Peterhansel. The newly formed duo will have one more chance to shake their car down at the Dubai International Baja at the beginning of December before getting ready for the big one less than a month later.

M.G.: “After a season with some ups and downs this year, the Andalucia Rally was like a new beginning for me. The new MCE-5 has been built by a group of French engineers who I know well and with whom I have a great working relationship with. They are very attentive to the feedback I give them and this is a fantastic opportunity for me to get in on the ground floor -especially as the car has been built specifically to incorporate hybrid technology in the future. We made a ton of changes following the car’s first race in Spain and we’ll be testing those developments out in Dubai at the Baja, but I was really happy with how the car performed first time out. As in Spain I’ll have Kellon (Walch) beside me. He’s co-driven for Austin Jones and Robbie Gordon in the past and his experience is a major plus for us. After the Dakar we’re scheduled to race the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and the Rallye du Maroc and depending on how January goes we’ll adjust our programme accordingly.”