Ot3

A new French-speaking duo

In the De Mevius family racing cars runs in the blood. Guillaume's father, Grégoire, has entered the Dakar no less than eight times and his brother, Ghislain, also competes. Guillaume raced in Belgium before moving onto the international stage in WRC2 with Citroën Racing in 2019. To switch to rally-raid in 2021 with Red Bull Off-Road Junior team seemed like a natural progression. The team run lightweight prototype T3s was developed by Overdrive, the team created by Jean-Marc Fortin and his father. Guillaume made his debut on the Andalucía Rally alongside another Belgian, his co-driver Tom Colsoul. The results were not long in coming, with Guillaume posting the fourth fastest time on the qualifying stage. But in the battle with his supersonic teammate Cristina Gutiérrez, a broken transmission prevented the ‘rookie’ from finishing in style. The 2022 Dakar also turned out to be a rocky ride for Guillaume. With Tom Colsoul testing positive for Covid he was replaced at the last minute by Kellon Walch, Robby Gordon's ‘traditional’ co-driver. Then, just like in Spain six months earlier, Guillaume alternated between very good days and ones marred by mechanical problems. On stage 1 he broke his differential and finished outside the top 40. The next day he won his first special stage on the Dakar in T3... before tumbling down the leader board again on stage 3. His fate was sealed on day five when he came off the track and damaged his roll-cage.  In Abu Dhabi, the De Mévius-Colsoul duo returned to action with a stage win on the first day before once again reluctantly withdrawing from the competition. A year after his debut in the discipline, Guillaume will return for the third round of the W2RC on the Andalucía Rally. Tom Colsoul will no longer be at his side. The Belgian is now focused on his new role in the W2RC, validating the road book for the world championship promoter ASO. François Cazalet, another French-speaking member of the Red Bull Off-Road Junior team, will team up with De Mévius. Cazalet is the reigning world number one in the category and has so far been paired with Cristina Guttiérez. Last year with the Spaniard, he finished 7th overall on the Andalucía Rally and won the T3 class. On the Dakar, he finished on the podium in the T3 category and in the second round in Abu Dhabi he finished second in the W2RC overall classification. The Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team has confidence in De Mévius and has teamed him up with their most experienced co-driver of the moment.