Six months since losing his right leg in an accident, Mathieu Baumel is hard at work to get back in shape and in the passenger’s seat. While he still has a ways to go, the 2026 Dakar Rally remains his target.

Daniel Elena recently spent an evening with Baumel, where the two connected. In the end, Elena came away with confidence that Baumel can achieve his goal.

“It was a pleasure to spend an evening with Mathieu, a little over six months after his accident,” wrote Elena. “The progress he’s made is simply amazing, even though there’s still a long way to go.

“His goal is Dakar 2026, and he’s never been so ready for it. He’s a fighter.”

Elena and Baumel are among the greatest navigators in the histories of their respective disciplines. The former has nine World Rally Championships as the partner to Sébastien Loeb, while the latter boasts five Dakar Rallies and six international rally raid titles with Nasser Al-Attiyah. Incidentally, Al-Attiyah and Loeb are currently W2RC teammates at Dacia.

In late January, Baumel was hit by a car on the side of the road at the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique. After two weeks of treatment, he opted to have his right leg amputated and have a prosthesis installed. The left leg also suffered severe injury but was saved after multiple surgeries.

He was released from the hospital in March and began rehab at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nîmes. Since then, he’s also resumed physical training with his prosthetic leg with workouts like stepping over obstacles, climbing stairs, and even playing golf.

His latest action was the Dakar Rally just two weeks before the accident, where he and Guillaume de Mévius finished 17th in Ultimate. Xavier Panseri took over as de Mévius’ navigator afterward.

Featured image credit: Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool