By Aris Galanopoulos

THE Ford Performance has fought and won since Le Mans and Monaco until Daytonathe Bathurstthe Finke and Ensenada. Until now it has not taken part in one of the toughest races on the planet: the iconic Dakar Rally.

Today, Ford announced that it’s time to fill that void by writing another page in its rich motorsports history. Extreme racing versions of the rugged Ford Ranger and Ranger Raptor will pave the way for Ford Performance to expand into global off–road races including the infamous Dakar Rally in 2024 and beyond.

The first step in the multi-year plan to participate in the Dakar Rally is to finish the race and gain knowledge in cooperation with the long-term partners M–Sport and Neil Wowlridge Motorsport (NWM) regarding vehicle development, maintenance and event management.

“Leading one of the top off–road races at world level – the Dakar Rally – was one of our goals,” said Mark Rushbrook, Global Director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “We cannot underestimate the magnitude of the challenge before us. We must first terminate and learn with it Ranger T1+ and together with partners such as M–Sport and the NWMwho offer their expertise, to do amazing things in the dunes of the Arabian Peninsula.”

Chief of the invasion in the 2024 Dakar Rally, to be held from January 5 to 19 in Saudi Arabia, will be a purpose-built Ford Ranger high performance that will compete in the category Rally Raid T1+.

H combination of forces of Ford Performance, M–Sport and NWM is going through various stages related to development throughout 2023 and conducting tests with it Ranger T1+, which is based on the previous generation of the global Ranger with one engine EcoBoost 3.5 liters. Ahead of the big adventure of the Dakar Rally next year, the test race schedule is expected to include the rally Baja Espna Aragon in Spain and the Rally du Maroc in Morocco in July and October respectively.

“Our first time in Dakar will be a learning experience that will help us understand how we will race in the future,” said Rushbrook. “But as in all races, we’re not just racing to win, we’re racing to help create better products for our customers.”

For the 2025 Dakar Rally, the Ford Performance and the M–Sport they develop a brand new, specially formulated Ranger Raptor – the ultimate performance version of the most popular pickup model of Europe – designed and built according to the regulations of the category T1+ of Dakar.

“The Dakar Rally is truly one of the top races off–road events in the world” said Malcolm Wilsonits CEO M–Sport. “All these years we have achieved great things with her Ford in its World Rally Championship races FIA (WRC) and we look forward to showing the same level of focus, energy and effort to compete with Ranger in Dakar”.

THE M–Sport is a top racing team that runs its own development and participation program M–Sport Ford Cougar Hybrid Rally1 in the World Rally Championship FIAas well as an engine manufacturer for its program Mustang GT3. H NWM played a key role since its inception Rally–Raid Rangeras the team developed and built vehicles at its facilities in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu–Natalto compete under the full regulations Dakar T1+ in the Championship Rally–Raid South Africa (SARRC) and around the world.