Ford teases 2025 Dakar Raptor truck, announces first drivers

Ford has recruited two previous winners of the Dakar Rally to drive its Raptor-branded race truck in the 2025 running of the gruelling event.

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

Ford also teased the 2025 race truck for a second time. It will be a bespoke truck branded simply as a Raptor, and not as one of the current production Raptors based on the F-150, Bronco, and Ranger. A previous teaser, shown below, reveals a grille and daytime running lights similar to the 2024 Ranger Raptor design, albeit slimmed down.

Ford previously said it would aim for an overall victory, using lessons learned from the 2024 campaign. Roma and co-driver Alex Haro were classified 44th in last year’s finishing order.

As with last year’s effort, the Dakar Ford Raptor will be run under the auspices of M-Sport, a British motorsports company that has operated some of Ford’s rally programs, including in the World Rally Championship. M-Sport is also building the 5.4-liter V-8 for the Ford Mustang GT3 race car that will compete in multiple series globally, as well as the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Dakar Rally is currently held in Saudi Arabia, but originally ran from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal, hence the name. Organizers moved the event to South America in 2009 due to fears of competitor safety, then to Saudi Arabia in 2020.