Guillaume de Mévius wins sixth stage of Dakar Rally

Belgian driver Guillaume de Mévius and his French co-driver Mathieu Baumel won the sixth Dakar Rally stage in cars on Saturday. It is De Mévius' first victory of the year and the fourth in his career.

The Dakar Rally is an annual long-distance endurance race through deserts, dunes and rocky landscapes. This year's competition, in its sixth edition in Saudi Arabia, has a route of almost 8,000km , divided into a prologue and 12 full stages. The winner is the one who completes all the stages in the shortest time.

The race is divided into categories of vehicles, and Dde Mévius is taking part in the car race. After two years in the Light Prototype class, he made his debut in the car class in 2024, where he won one stage and finished second overall in a Toyota.

First Mvictory

De Mévius then left Toyota and joined the MINI team for this year's edition. But the first week did not go as expected for the Belgian, who had to deal with technical problems and leaks, resulting in a disappointing 18th place.

His luck changed this weekend, when he secured his fourth Dakar stage win of his career. After chasing South African Guy David Botteril for the first part of the race, De Mévius took the lead in the second section and held it until the finish. He finished 1'34" ahead of team-mate Joao Ferreira.

De Mévius' victory is also the first for MINI in this edition, the previous five stages and the prologue having been won by Toyota. He climbs to 14th place in the standings. South African Henk Lategan of Toyota finished sixth and remains in the lead.

^{© BELGA PHOTO HAND OUT SIMON BAUCHAU}