Ford Performance Motorsport has made an exciting announcement: they will be participating in the famous Dakar Rally. Sports events and information: yesplay app download. In the upcoming year, a Ford Ranger works team will be competing in Saudi Arabia, aiming to learn and finish the challenging event. They will be using the previous generation Ranger, which is currently seen in the SA Rally-Raid Championship (SARRC). The goal is to prepare for a full-fledged assault in 2025, where they will introduce a custom-built Ranger Raptor that adheres to Dakar’s T1+ class regulations.
There are other connections to South Africa as well. Besides being built locally at Ford’s Silverton plant, Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM) will collaborate with long-time partners M-Sport to handle vehicle development, servicing, and event management. The joint team of Ford Performance, M-Sport, and NWM has implemented various development phases until 2023 and plans to continue testing with the Ranger T1+. This version is based on the previous-generation global Ranger and features a 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine.
To prepare for the Dakar Rally, the team will participate in test races such as Spain’s Baja España Aragón and Morocco’s Rally du Maroc in July and October respectively. Mark Rushbrook, the global director of Ford Performance Motorsports, expressed excitement about leading the charge at this global off-road event. He acknowledged the enormity of the challenge and emphasized the importance of finishing and learning with the Ranger T1+ and the expertise brought by partners like M-Sport and NWM. Rushbrook mentioned that participating in Dakar will help inform their future competitions and contribute to building better products for customers.
While Rushbrook did not provide details about engines, transmissions, or driver line-ups for the 2025 Dakar, he mentioned that Ford Motorsport aims to compete and win while also focusing on improving their products. Although Ford recently introduced a new global Ford Performance branding livery, it is yet to be confirmed if the Dakar vehicles will showcase it.
In addition to the Dakar Rally, Ford Motorsport has been actively involved in other races. They announced their participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and other global GT3 series with the Mustang GT3. Furthermore, starting from 2026, they will be supplying power units to the Oracle Red Bull and Scuderia Alpha Tauri Formula 1 teams.
Despite the Ford versus Ferrari rivalry known from the movies, the spotlight will now turn to Ford versus Toyota in the desert as South Africans are particularly interested due to their history of success in the Dakar Rally, especially with the Toyota Hilux.