Ford signs Carlos Sainz for 2025 Dakar Rally
Carlos Sainz and his compatriot and two-time event winner Nani Roma will be two of the four drivers who will represent Ford in a prestigious test Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia next year. The rest of the lineup will be announced later.
This will be the Madrid driver’s fourth stint with the American automotive giant, with whom he has competed at various times in the World Rally Championship with an impressive array of cars for almost 20 years.
He was driving Ford Sierra RS with which he made his WRC debut in 1987. He returned to Ford as a two-time championship champion in 1996 and scored three wins in the next two seasons before returning to Toyota.
Toyota’s exit at the end of 1999 paved the way for a third round between 2000 and 2002, which resulted in two more wins and a best result of third place.
Carlos Sainz was hired by Ford after leading Audi to the top of the Dakar Rally last January, the culmination of a three-year factory program that was cut short due to a lack of spare parts.
With Ford Sainz will be seeking his fifth Dakar victory with the same number of other manufacturers, after four previous victories with Volkswagen, Peugeot, Mini and Audi.
“I’m very excited about this new Dakar Rally project, the opportunity to come back to work with Ford for the fourth time and come back to M-Sport, back with Malcolm, who I know very well.”
“My history with Ford goes back to 1987 and I think I was Malcolm (Wilson, M-Sport founder)’s first driver, his first factory driver, I’m very proud of that. Raptor and solve this complex problem while pursuing multiple goals. One of them is to help Ford win the Dakar Rally,” the Spaniard added.
Colin McRae, Carlos Sainz, Ford cars
Photo: McKlein/Motorsport Images
The American auto giant made the announcement on Friday afternoon, also saying that has begun testing the 2025 Ranger Raptor..
Ford was already planning to build a new Dakar challenger by 2025 after a trial run at Dakar this year with an updated version of the NWM-built Ranger driven by Nani Roma and South African Gareth Woolridge.
Along with the announcement, Ford unveiled a teaser image of the new Raptor, showing the rear of the vehicle kicking up dust in the desert.
“The scale of our racing ambitions off-road “This is unprecedented in Ford’s recent history, and nothing is clearer about this ambition than our goal to bring the Ford Raptor to the iconic Dakar Rally,” he said. Mark RushbrookGlobal Director, Ford Performance Motorsport.
“Such a huge challenge requires the best engineers, designers, team members, co-drivers and drivers, and with Nani Roma and Carlos Sainz Sr. we have two of the most experienced and successful riders in Dakar history.”
“The Ford Raptor is already showing promising results in testing and having two of the best drivers in the world gives us confidence going forward,” he concluded.
#210 Ford M-Sport Ford Ranger: Nani Roma, Alex Aro Bravo
Photo: ASO
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