Ford Performance has revealed the new Raptor T1+ at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed, the car that will attempt to hunt down victory at the Dakar starting next year alongside Carlos Sainz and Nani Roma.
The car designed and built to go on all terrains and do so with excellent performance is a clear symptom of what, in Ford, they consider necessary for the promotion of their brand and their production cars. The rallies, but the extreme ones: the rally raids.
In the WRC, for years now, Ford has limited itself to supporting – to varying degrees, depending on the human material available – M-Sport. With the official arrival at the Dakar, with M-Sport, it was natural to ask what the future of the blue oval in the World Rally Championship could be.
Ford Raptor T1+
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Mark Rushbrook, Ford Performance Motorsports Global Director, said at Goodwood that the American brand will only commit to the WRC beyond 2026 if the future of the premier class is a compromise that works for everyone.
The FIA could reveal the 2027 technical regulations by the end of this year, probably in December. This will be crucial as the WRC hopes to retain existing manufacturers and attract new ones.
“We have to decide what happens in Rally1 and Rally2, what the future is, and that’s where we have to make our decision,” Rushbrook told Motorsport.com. “We want to be committed, but it has to be fair for everyone.”
Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo by: M-Sport
“We definitely want to keep the possibility of participating as a manufacturer in the WRC. We definitely want to be on all levels of the complete pyramid of rallying. But it seems that different manufacturers want different things, so if the FIA can write the regulations in such a way that you have the possibility, like in the Dakar, to use combustion engines, turbocharged naturally aspirated, or hybrids, if you have that opportunity in rallying as well, you can attract more manufacturers.”
“Technical parity, which is what the Dakar does now with the equivalence of technology and with torque sensors on the vehicles. So I think it’s about things like that.
But then there’s also the promotional aspect, aside from the technical rules, to make sure it’s engaging for the fans and really embraces the sport.”
#Ford #Stay #WRC #Pushes #DakarStyle #Rules