Guerlain Chicherit and Guillaume de Mévius shocked many once they departed Overdrive Racing to affix X-raid Group for the Rallye du Maroc. Abrupt because it could be, each imagine signing with a workforce that has manufacturing unit help from Mini give them one of the best alternative to be aggressive, particularly on the Dakar Rally in 2025 and past.
Reviews of de Mévius’ defection surfaced on Tuesday, which have been corroborated by Overdrive boss Jean-Marc Fortin. In response to Fortin, the workforce had been ready to offer de Mévius a two-year contract extension when Fortin was abruptly informed by the motive force that he had joined X-raid as a substitute.
De Mévius gave his aspect of the story in an interview with Autosportwereld on Friday. Though he confirmed he had a suggestion to proceed with Overdrive and Toyota in 2025, he burdened he was merely “a consumer of Overdrive Racing. […] I used to be by no means an official Toyota driver.” In contrast to Toyota Gazoo Racing, Overdrive is a non-public operation.
“I’ve a possibility to win races with X-raid, and they’re going to assist me attain the very best degree,” he continued. “That is my first official contract, the primary time I’ve signed with a producer, and I’m pleased about that.”
Chicherit shared related sentiment, although he’s no stranger to X-raid or Mini. He raced the Dakar Rally for the German outfit from 2006 to 2010 and once more in 2015 and 2016, scoring a finest end of fifth in 2010 with two whole stage wins.
Whereas Morocco is his first time racing a Mini from X-raid, he has dabbled with the producer within the FIA World Rallycross Championship.
“My profession began with X-raid within the BMW X3 CC. We examined and developed many automobiles collectively. That was a good time,” Chicherit commented. “Later, I attempted out numerous different tasks. I’ve learnt so much lately and X-raid has been extraordinarily profitable. However now I’m again once more.
“I believe that X-raid can provide me the alternatives to combat for victories.”
Each drivers joined Overdrive for the 2024 season, the place they raced identical-liveried Toyota Hiluxes themed after the Colt Seavers’ pickup truck in The Fall Man. The 2 impressed early as de Mévius completed second and Chicherit fourth within the season-opening Dakar Rally, although a double retirement on the Abu Dhabi Desert Problem adopted by mechanical issues and crashes on the BP Final Rally-Raid derailed their campaigns. Neither of them ran the Desafío Ruta 40.
With one spherical to go, Chicherit is fifth within the standings and 4 factors forward of de Mévius.
For the Rallye du Maroc, Chicherit and co-driver Alex Winocq will drive X-raid’s new Mini John Cooper Works Rally 3.0i whereas de Mévius and Mathieu Baumel, together with their new colleague João Ferreira, are within the Mini JCW Rally Plus. The three.0i differs from earlier X-raid automobiles because it makes use of a gasoline-powered engine relatively than diesel. De Mévius famous to Autosportwereld that growth of the brand new Mini was “placed on maintain for some time” since X-raid additionally oversaw 2024 Dakar winner Group Audi Sport’s now-defunct rally programme by way of Q Motorsport.
“We’re delighted to be competing in Morocco with such an incredible line-up,” commented workforce principal Sven Quandt. “De Mévius and Chicherit completed the Dakar in a sensational second and fourth place. João has already clinched a number of victories this yr. He’s at present ranked second within the FIA World Baja and leads the Portuguese championship.
“I can’t wait to see our new member of the family, the X-raid Mini JCW Rally 3.0i, in motion in a rally and to achieve extra expertise with it. We’d have favored to have entered extra automobiles, however attributable to supply bottlenecks at some suppliers, we needed to restrict ourselves to at least one petrol-powered automobile.”
The Rallye du Maroc is scheduled for six–11 October.
