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Sainz and Nani Roma are the first two of four drivers confirmed by the Blue Oval for next year’s blue riband offroad event.
They will drive Ford Raptors as the programme steps up after a Dakar debut described by the brand as a “finish and learn campaign” in 2024.
A teaser shot released by Ford in conjunction with the announcement shows that said ‘Raptor’, as opposed to a ‘Ranger Raptor’, has a buggy-style body rather than a ute shape.
For Sainz, the signing is a reunion on two fronts given he is again competing in a Ford run by M-Sport, as he did in the World Rally Championship in the 1990s and 2000s.
The Spaniard won the Dakar in 2010 with Volkswagen, 2018 with Peugeot, 2020 with Mini, and this year with Audi, which has now closed down its RS Q e-tron programme amid its impending entry into Formula 1.
Roma is a Dakar champion once on a motorcycle, with KTM in 2004, and once in a car, with Mini in 2014, and drove the sole factory-backed Ford Ranger this year.
“The scale of our ambitions in offroad racing are unparalleled in Ford’s recent history and nothing is more clear in that ambition than our challenge to take the Ford Raptor to the legendary Dakar rally,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director at Ford Performance Motorsport.
“Taking on such an enormous challenge requires the best engineers, designers, team members, navigators and drivers, and in Nani Roma and Carlos Sainz Snr, we have two of the most experienced and successful drivers in Dakar history.
“The Ford Raptor is already showing promising signs in testing and having two of the best drivers in the world with us for the ride gives us confidence for the continued development of the truck.”
Sainz himself said, “I’m very excited by this new Dakar Rally project, to go back to working with Ford for the fourth time, and to return to M-Sport, to return to Malcom [Wilson, team owner/founder] who I know very well, it’s really great to be back.
“My history with Ford goes all the way back to ‘87, and I think I was Malcolm’s first driver, his first ever factory driver, back in the day, and I’m very proud of that.
“I’m really excited to be driving the Raptor truck, and to approach this big challenge with a lot of goals. One is to help Ford win the Dakar Rally.”
Testing of the 2025 Ford Raptor has already begun.
It is of T1+ specification for ‘Prototype Cross-Country Cars 4×4’ and will compete for honours in the overarching ‘Ultimate’ class for cars.
The Dakar effort comes after a gradual ramp-up through the 2022 Baja 1000 and last year’s Tatts Finke Desert Race with a Ranger Raptor developed in partnership with Kelly Racing and run in the Northern Territory by Walkinshaw Performance.
