Two of the most renowned off-road racers in the world – Matthias Ekström and Carlos Sainz Sr. – will lead the Ford Performance team in Rallye du Maroc driving a pair of Ford Raptor T1+ utility vehicles.
Rallye du Maroc, the traditional prelude to the legendary Dakar Rally, takes place Oct. 4 – 10 in Morocco. It is widely considered the toughest endurance off-road race in the world. WRX champion Ekström and four-time Dakar champion Sainz join American off-road ace Mitch Guthrie Jr. and two-time Dakar champion Nani Roma to round out the Ford 2025 Dakar Rally driver lineup. All drivers and their navigators have previous Dakar competition experience.
“Our goal has always been to build a diverse and powerful team, and with the additions of Mattias and Mitch, we’ve achieved that,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance Motorsports. “We have a blend of Dakar champions and rising stars, all equipped with the capability to push the Ford Raptor T1+ to its full potential. The Rallye du Maroc is our last chance before Dakar to push man and machine to the limit and we intend to do just that.”
Rallye du Maroc serves as a pivotal step in the development of the Ford Raptor T1+ ahead of the 2025 Dakar Rally by providing the team a proving ground to refine the utility vehicle under real-world rally conditions. The purpose-built rally raid racer was engineered in collaboration with longtime Ford Performance partner M-Sport to handle the extreme demands of desert racing. In August, Roma demonstrated the Raptor T1+’s capabilities in its competition debut with a strong performance at the Hungarian Baja, recording the fastest overall time of all competitors.
