Ford has confirmed its intention to participate in the next year’s Dakar Rally and unveiled what probably looks like the most hardcore Ranger Raptor conversion to date.
Little is known about the pickup truck that will hit the Dakar trail in 2024. The images reveal massive fender flares, a snorkel pipe, undercarriage protection and assorted air intakes. It is also obvious that the suspension has plenty of travel and damping potential, as befits a heavy-duty rally setup.
Ford Performance has teamed up with M-Sport and Neil Woolridge Motorsport for the project. The former provides support to Ford during the rally, while the latter has been tuning Ford vehicles for various endurance races in South Africa lately.
The official description states that the American carmaker hopes to score a victory in the top category of the Dakar. Having said that, the team behind the project realizes how hard it can be to score gold on one’s first try and thus prefers to treat the competition as just one of the preparation stages towards something bigger. As such, Ford’s involvement with Dakar is officially an affair to last several years.
The next rally will kick off on January 5, 2024. Before it begins, the Ranger Raptor will take part in several simpler races, like Baja España Aragón or Rally du Maroc. The company promises to use the experience thus gained to improve its mass-market cars.
