Ford Teases 2025 Dakar Raptor Truck, Announces First Driver

Ford has tapped two drivers who have won the Dakar Rally to drive Raptor-branded racing trucks in the grueling Dakar Rally to be held in 2025.

The automaker has confirmed that Carlos Sainz Sr. and Nani Roma will be two of the four drivers in the newly developed Dakar Ford Raptor. Sainz Sr., whose father is Ferrari F1 driver Carlos Sainz Jr., is a four-time winner of the Dakar Rally, including the 2024 Dakar Rally, which he entered with Audi. Rome, a two-time winner, was also part of Ford's 2024 Dakar campaign with a Ranger-branded truck running in the T1 class.

Ford also gave a second preview of its 2025 race truck. This truck will not be one of the current production Raptors based on the F-150, Bronco, or Ranger, but simply a custom-built truck branded as a Raptor. An earlier teaser shown below shows a grille and daytime running lights similar to the 2024 Ranger Raptor design, albeit slimmed down.

Ford has previously said that it will use the lessons learned from the 2024 campaign to win the overall championship. Rome and co-driver Alex Haro finished 44th in last year's finishing order.

Like last year's effort, the Dakar Ford Raptor will operate under the auspices of M-Sport, a British motorsports company that has run several of Ford's rally programs, including the World Rally Championship. m-sport will also be running the 2024 Le Mans 24-hour race as well as a 5.4-liter V-8 engine for the Ford Mustang GT3 racing car that will compete in multiple series worldwide.

The Dakar Rally, now held in Saudi Arabia, originally ran from Paris, France to Dakar, Senegal. Organizers moved it to South America in 2009 and to Saudi Arabia in 2020 due to concerns about competitor safety.