
Experience shines through as Nani Roma and navigator co-pilot Alex Haro take a Dakar Rally stage win in their 2025 Ford Raptor T1+ race truck. Nani Roma has a lot of experience in the dunes, and this was the main challenge in Stage 10 of this year’s race.
The Dakar Rally takes place in Saudi Arabia. It’s an off-road race (a navigation rally) that spans two weeks and covers over 4,700 miles of unforgiving terrain. A distance that is similar to driving all the way across the U.S. from California to Florida and then back to California.
Ford Performance division has entered four racing Raptor vehicles into this race. It’s participating in the T1+ class. There are some limitations, but the designers and engineers are allowed to go wild with chassis and suspension design. The racing vehicles have length, width, and weight limitations. The Raptor T1+ has a wheelbase of 118 inches (which is about two inches longer than that of a production Ford Bronco Raptor). The racing truck is 90 inches wide (which is about three inches wider than the huge Ford F-150 Raptor). The vehicle must weigh a minimum of 4,400 lbs.
It must use a production-based engine, and Ford and M-Sport engineers decided to use a 5.0L Coyote V8. The engine is rated at 355 hp and 398 lb-ft of torque. There is a limit on how much power vehicles in this class can make. It uses a 6-speed sequential gearbox. It’s basically a WRC rally car that can also crawl over rocks and jump in the dunes.
Three Ford Raptor T1+ vehicles are left in the race at this later part. Nani Roma is out of contention for the overall win due an engine failure earlier in the race, and a collision with another competitor. However, Mitch Guthrie Jr and Mattias Ekstrom are still fighting for positions near the top. Mattias currently holds the number three position overall.
Two more stages are left to go! The Ford team is competing against teams from Dacia, Toyota, and MINI (among others).