After the breakup with Nasser Al-Attiyah, Mathieu Baumel breaks the silence: “We have to think about the future”

The world is small, and a bivouac of rally-raid too. Fifteen years after their last competition as a pair in a 4×4, Guerlain Chicherit and Mathieu Baumel will once again make common cause during the Rally Raid Portugal, third round of the World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC) scheduled for April 2 to 7.

ALSO READ > Guerlain Chicherit and Mathieu Baumel team up for the Rally Raid Portugal

Double champion W2RC in title, but with Nasser Al-Attiyah, Mathieu Baumel will temporarily take the place of Alex Winocq, injured during a bad landing during the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. Moreover, the French co-pilot clarified things during our interview. It's not because he reconnects with his old friend that we will also find him in the same place at the Morocco Rally in October as well as at the Dakar 2025!

“It’s a one-shot, time for Alex to regain optimal health for rally-raid practice. We don't joke about the dangers of the job! » On this Rally Raid Portugal, a new event to make its debut in the W2RC, Mathieu Baumel will have the mission of helping Guerlain Chicherit aim for the title.

 

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“He is second in the championship and my goal will be to help him with this. I want to put my experience to good use, and I'm super motivated! If I can help him like that, then my goal would be achieved. »

The two men like each other, we can even label them as “friends”, since the mid-2000s when the duo participated in the 2005 Paris-Dakar, without much prior experience. “It was our first rally raid for each of us! When you think about it, it was crazy. The FFSA and ASO (organizer) had set up this detection operation, it was great. Even though during the stages, we had a series of difficulties, we wondered what we were doing there, lost in the desert! We had a good race considering our equipment, and we returned in 2006 with a BMW (X3 diesel from X-Raid) to win our first special and finish in the top 10 overall. »

Mathieu Baumel is undoubtedly the reference in rally-raid navigation. Four times winner of the Dakar alongside Nasser Al-Attiyah, the Habs is quite simply the most “capped” co-driver in the field currently active, tied with Lucas Cruz (co-driver of Carlos Sainz). And yet, he has no sporting program for 2024 following the unexpected separation that occurred at the end of January between him and Al-Attiyah.

On the phone, the subject remains sensitive. Mathieu Baumel has just told us that the breakup has occurred “without warning, which was a bit weird”. “I would have liked to have been informed beforehand in order to find a solution for the rest of the year. There, I was presented with a fait accompli”, he comments. Indeed, all the leading W2RC crews were already trained for the months to come when Mathieu Baumel found himself on foot.

Readers can rest assured, Mathieu Baumel hopes to return to the notebook in the months to come. “I'm doing everything it takes to be present at the Morocco Rally and the 2025 Dakar, even if I don't yet know with which driver! You have to think about the future, I don't let myself get discouraged and I really want my experience to be useful for a pilot. I think I have a little in reserve”, he laughs.

Two months after the end of the collaboration with Nasser Al-Attiyah, Mathieu Baumel finds a new balance in his life. The mountain man benefits more from his wife and children, and he wishes to keep this bond even during his future job as co-pilot in the months and years to follow. “With Nasser, I traveled 230 days a year, between rally raids, bajas and the Middle East Rally Championship, he comments. From now on, I redistribute this time between my family, other side projects and the rally raid. Besides, I think I will only do rally raids (Dakar and W2RC) in the future. »