Mathieu Baumel’s “victory”
The 48th edition of the Dakar Rally began on Saturday with a Prologue won by the Swede Mattias Ekström (Ford/BFGoodrich), followed by the first stage won by Guillaume de Mévius and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel on a Mini JCW/BFGoodrich.
Winner of the first timed stage, 305 km long, around Yanbu, the crew of the Mini JCW X-Raid No. 222 also took the lead in the overall standings. For Mathieu Baumel, it is already a victory!
Amputated of a leg following an unfortunate traffic accident 11 months ago, Mathieu Baumel fought like a madman to return to competition and be at the start of the 2026 Dakar Rally, an event he has won four times alongside Nasser Al-Attiyah with BFGoodrich.
The entire BFGoodrich team can only admire Mathieu’s resilience and courage and wishes him the best for the rest of the 2026 Dakar Rally.
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