Rallye du Maroc – De Mévius, a podium for his first with Mini X-Raid: “Very happy to see that my choice was the right one”

A bittersweet podium for Guillaume de Mévius. Bitter, first of all, because the Belgian did not come so far from a victory over the Rally from Morocco: second overall at the start of the 5th and final stage on Friday, he had even gained a few minutes on Nasser Al-Attiyah… before encountering a technical problem which made him lose precious seconds, but also his 2nd place overall to the benefit of Sébastien Loeb.

"We had to change a belt, so we lost about ten minutes on that. We had made a small mistake just before, we landed on some camel grass in the dunes so we lost 12 minutes in total on the special, estimates the 30-year-old pilot. Unfortunately, we lost 2nd place because of that, but I think that despite that, we had a good pace today. (…). Overall, I think I will keep a very good memory of this race, even if I would have liked to stay 2nd, and we could have almost bothered Nasser [Al-Attiyah]… but oh well. He was maybe a little too far, but we had started the special well, it's stupid (sic) to have had this [problem with] belt… but that's how it is, that's motorsport!

From Mévius, express adaptation… and successful at Mini

Sweet, finally, because despite this problem and this 2nd place lost on the wire, Guillaume de Mévius can be happy to have obtained a podium on his first appearance with X-Raid aboard the Mini 4×4, and was even a serious contender for victory for a long time against the new Dacias. Despite the problem encountered in the last stage, he finally managed to finish in 3rd place. "The car is good and the combo with Mathieu [Baumel] is going very well, so I'm very happy. It's still a podium for our first race with X-Raid, with such a level of competitiveness, it's still a good week for us. We still have a bit of work to do with the team.", he admits, he who had barely announced his surprise transfer to X-Raid just a few weeks before the start of the Rally of Morocco.

A podium which also reassures him about the choice of having left Overdrive and Toyota to switch to Mini. A choice that many considered risky, but which seems to be working for now. "It bodes well for the future, because we were all discovering each other a little here, on the Rallye du Maroc. Very happy to see also that my choice was the right one and even if I believed in it, it put a little doubt in everyone that I would join Mini, confides the Belgian. We proved that the car was efficient and capable of fighting at the front. That bodes well for the future, for the Dakar and the years to come."

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