When it comes to rally racing, the Dakar Rally is one of the most demanding and intense off-road stages, and winning it earns any driver, car, or manufacturer a respected place in rally legacy, and Ford is seeking to earn that distinction with a rallying version of its latest Raptor machine. The Ford Ranger Raptor features increased power and performance, and the Raptor name is associated with Ford models that boast high performance off-road in general, which is why Ford built the Ford Ranger Raptor T1+, which is a new rally car designed to shoot for victory at the 2024 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia.
The Dakar Rally is a new frontier for Ford Performance, which has earned victories at racing venues like Le Mans, Monaco, Daytona, and more, but has yet to throw its hat into the Dakar Rally ring. The goal for Ford is not only to win the rally’s T1+ category but also to gather knowledge and information to aid both future rally efforts and future production performance off-roaders. The Ranger Raptor T1+ is based on the previous generation Ranger with a 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine, and it will race in the Baja España Aragón and the Rally du Maroc before trying its hand at Dakar, and for 2025, Ford Performance and M-Sport plan on creating a custom-built Ranger Raptor T1+ for the category’s regulations. This new path for Ford’s racing efforts is certainly not the beaten one, but that only makes this a more exciting announcement.
Sources: Ford