In spite of a nightmarish first participation which ended up with a premature exit last year, Guillaume de Mevius nevertheless showed his potential by winning a stage. Admittedly, he was no way near as dominant as his team-mate at the time Seth Quintero, but the Belgian has learned from this experience. De Mevius only boasts a single victory so far this year, but he has focused on consistency.
With seven finishes in the top 5 since the prologue, he leads the general rankings. Naturally, de Mevius has also taken advantage of the misfortunes met by his adversaries, starting with “Chaleco” López, the title holder. Luck has most definitely not smiled on the Chilean this year.
A flooded and impassable river on stage 3 held him up considerably and Cristina Gutiérrez also fell into the same trap. As for Quintero, who on form should have blown everyone away, he heavily paid the price of a lost wheel. Mitch Guthrie has also encountered his fair share of mishaps.
For the moment, only Austin Jones, who won in the SSV category in 2022, is managing to fly the flag for the Red Bull clan, because he trails de Mevius by only three minutes. Outright victory could well be played out between these two pretenders.
Source: A.S.O. / Dakar Rally
Photo: A.S.O./F.Gooden/DPPI
