Four-time Dakar winner Carlos Sainz will drive the Ford Raptor at the 2025 Dakar Rally – The Spaniard’s long-standing connection to Ford and M-Sport
Carlos Sainz will start the 2025 Dakar Rally for Ford! The reigning Dakar winner will drive a Ford Raptor T1+ next year and attempt to claim his fifth overall victory. “I’m really looking forward to driving the Raptor and tackling this big challenge with many goals,” says the 62-year-old. “One of them is to help Ford win the Dakar Rally. “
After Audi withdrew from rallying, it was clear that Sainz would have to look for alternatives for the 2025 edition. At the Rally Raid Portugal in April, the Spaniard competed with co-driver Alex Haro in the MINI JCW Rally Plus of the German X-raid team. Despite problems on the final day of the event, the duo finished fourth. Sainz and X-raid can look back on a successful Dakar past: in 2020, the Spaniard celebrated his third overall victory in the world’s toughest rally in the X-raid Mini. Nevertheless, the father of Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz Jr. has now decided to aim for his fifth Dakar success together with Ford
Fourth collaboration for Sainz & Ford
For good reason: M-Sport is responsible for racing the Ford Raptor – and here, too, Sainz can look back on a successful collaboration. In 1987 and 1988, the Spaniard drove a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth, with which he became Spanish Rally Champion. Later, the two-time world champion also battled for the WRC crown in a Ford Escort (1996, 1997) and a Ford Focus RS WRC (2000 to 2002).
“I’m really looking forward to this new Dakar Rally project, to the fourth collaboration with Ford, to returning to M-Sport and to returning to Malcolm, whom I know very well,” says Sainz happily. “My history with Ford goes back to 1987 and I think I was Malcolm’s [Wilson, founder of M-Sport] first driver, his first ever works driver, and I’m very proud of that.”
“Carlos is a legend in our sport and one of the most successful drivers in all formats of off-road racing,” praises Matthew Wilson, Managing Director of M-Sport and head of the Dakar team. “His decision to return to Ford and M-Sport after so many years is a big win for the team and it’s great to have him back in the big Ford family to take on the big challenge of the Dakar.”
Should Sainz actually celebrate overall victory in the Dakar Rally next year, it would be the fifth success in the fifth car! In 2010, the Spaniard triumphed in the VW Race Touareg, in 2018 in the Peugeot 3008 DKR and in 2020 in the X-raid Mini. This year, Sainz won in the RS-Q-e-tron
Nani Roma will also remain with Ford in 2025
“Now that the test drives are in full swing, we have a great opportunity to learn from the best and drive the development of the Ford Raptor forward,” says Wilson confidently. The first test drives with the Ford Raptor have already begun. In addition to Sainz, Nani Roma, who has already driven the Ford in this year’s edition, will also remain in the team
“It’s a great pleasure to welcome Nani back to the team after his great stint in the Ranger T1+ in Dakar,” says M-Sport Director Wilson. “His experience and knowledge will be invaluable to us and I’m sure we’ll learn a lot from him over the course of this exciting program.”
“With a team like M-Sport, with its history and heritage in the sport, with which we can create something completely new, I can say that it has already been a very exciting few months,” said Roma. “The next Dakar Rally is not far away, so it’s time to work really hard.”
“But Alex [Haro] and I are so lucky to be surrounded by such dedicated and talented engineers, mechanics and the whole team – to get up every day and do what we love, with people who share the same passion, that’s the best feeling!
Ford will enter four cars in next year’s Dakar Rally. Who the other two drivers will be alongside Sainz and Roma will be announced at a later date.
