Six years after their last collaboration (with Mini, in 2019), Carlos Sainz and Nani Roma will once again be teammates in the Dakar rally. Ford will make it possible in the next edition 2025. The American firm of the oval has made official the hiring of the Madrid driver, current champion, for the next Dakar.
Carlos Sainz, 62, will seek his fifth Tuareg statuette with a fifth different brand, after those achieved with Volkswagen (2010), Peugeot (2018), Mini (2020) and Audi (2024).
For the veteran driver from Madrid, signing for the official Ford team, developed by the Malcolm Wilson structure, also means a return to the American firm with which he already competed in the WRC World Rally Championship in various stages, in 1987-88 ( with the Sierra RS Cosworth), in 1996 (with the Escort RS Cosworth), and in 2000-02 (with the Focus WRC).
“I am very excited about this new project for the Dakar Rally. Returning to work with Ford for the fourth time, and returning to M-Sport, with Malcolm Wilson, who I know very well, is really great,” commented Sainz.
The relationship between Carlos Sainz and Ford dates back to 1987, when the Madrid native became two-time champion of Spain (1987-88) with a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth and debuted in the World Championship with the same car, achieving a scratch.
“My history with Ford goes back to ’87; I think I was Malcolm’s first factory driver and I’m very proud of that. I am excited to drive the Raptor and achieve many goals in this great challenge. One of them is to help Ford win the Dakar Rally,” said the Madrid native.
Ford had planned to assault the Dakar rally in two phases. A first with the revised version of the Ranger, which Nani Roma developed and piloted this year in the Dakar 2024, in addition to the South African Gareth Woolridge.
He now faces the second stage with the Ford Raptor, with which he has already started testing. The American firm has shown the rear part of the vehicle, which it will present soon.
“The scale of our off-road racing ambitions is unmatched in Ford’s recent history and nothing is clearer in that ambition than our challenge to bring the Ford Raptor to the legendary Dakar rally,” said Mark Rushbrook, global head of off-road racing. Ford Performance Motorsport.
“Taking on such an enormous challenge requires the best engineers, designers, team members, navigators and drivers, and with Nani Roma and Carlos Sainz Sr, we have two of the most experienced and successful drivers in the history of the Dakar.”
