A bittersweet podium for Guillaume de Mévius. Bitter, first, because the Belgian did not come that far from a victory on the Rallye du Maroc: second overall at the start of the 5th and final stage on Friday, he had even scrounged a few minutes from Nasser Al-Attiyah … before encountering a technical problem which caused him to lose precious seconds, but also his 2nd place overall to Sébastien Loeb.
“We had to change a belt, so we lost around ten minutes on that. We made a small mistake just before, we landed on 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 good pace today. (…). Overall, I think I will have very good memories of this race, even if I would have liked to stay 2nd, and we could almost have even bothered Nasser [Al-Attiyah]…but hey. He was perhaps a little too far away, but we had started the special well, it’s stupid (sic) to have had this [problème de] belt… but that’s how it is, it’s motorsport! »
From Mévius, express adaptation… and successful at Mini
Sweet, finally, because despite this problem and this 2nd place lost at the wire, Guillaume de Mévius can rejoice in having obtained a podium on his first appearance with X-Raid aboard the Mini 4×4, and was even long a serious contender for victory against the new Dacia. Despite the problem encountered in the last stage, he finally managed to finish 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 little 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 Rallye du Maroc.
A podium which also reassures him about the choice to have left Overdrive and Toyota to move to Mini. A choice that many considered risky, but which so far seems to be working. “It bodes well for the future, because we are all discovering ourselves a little here, on the Rallye du Maroc. Very happy to also see that my choice was the right one and even if I believed in it, it gave everyone a little doubt that I was joining Mini, confides the Belgian. We proved that the car was efficient and capable of fighting at the front. This bodes well for the future, for the Dakar and the years to come. »
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