The Ford Ranger Raptor will take on its arch nemesis the Toyota Hilux in the 2024 and 2025 Dakar Rally, with next year’s event a ‘race and learn’ venture for Ford, which has never contested the big desert race before.

The news follows a production-class win and a one-way course record at last weekend’s Finke Desert Race in Alice Springs, where the very same Ranger Raptor that took class victory at the Baja 1000 in Mexico last November was used.

Unlike Baja and Finke, where a production-based vehicle was entered, Ford’s Dakar entry will be a purpose-built T1+ class racing vehicle, using a 3.5-litre V6 ‘EcoBoost’ engine that will target outright honours.

That means it will compete head-on with the factory Toyota Hilux that won in both 2022 and 2023 with Qatar driver Nasser Al-Attiyah and French navigator Mathieu Baumel. The pair also won in a Hilux in 2019.

Ford’s effort will use South African-based Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM), who has raced a T1+ class Ranger in the South African Rally-Raid Championship – won in 2022 by Toyota’s formidable Al-Attiyah/Baumel – as both Ranger and Hilux have been manufactured there for local South African and export markets.

Additionally, Ford will work with long-standing World Rally Championship partner, M-Sport.

“To lead the charge at one of the ultimate global off-road events – the Dakar Rally – has been a goal of ours,” said Mark Rushbrook, Global Director, Ford Performance Motorsports.

In spite of this, the Ford Performance boss tempered expectations for 2024, which will be used as a development run before an outright tilt at victory in Dakar 2025.

“Our first time in Dakar will be a learning adventure that will help inform how we compete in the future,” he said.

“We cannot underestimate the enormity of the challenge ahead of us. We need to finish and learn first with Ranger T1+ and partners like M-Sport and NWM, who bring their expertise to bear. Together, we can do amazing things in the sand dunes of the Arabian Peninsula.”

The names of driver and navigator will be announced ahead of the Baja Espana Aragon in Spain (July 21-23), which will be one of several test and development events for the Ranger before the Dakar on January 5-9, 2024.