Ford Signs Reigning Champion Carlos Sainz Sr To Lead Its Dakar Rally Program In 2025

Ford Motor Company has signed reigning Dakar champion Carlos Sainz Sr. to lead its cross-country rally program in 2025. Sainz with Joan "Nani" Roma Cararach will be two of the four drivers to represent Ford at the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia next year. The other two drivers will be announced in due course. Sainz and Roma will be piloting the Dakar-spec Ford Raptor in 2025.

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Sainz Sr will drive alongside Joan "Nani" Roma Cararach for Ford; two more drivers are yet to be announced.

Sainz Sr. is a four-time Dakar Winner and this will be his fourth stint with Ford, having competed with its range of cars in the World Rally Championship in his 20-year career. Ford's hiring comes after Sainz won the 2024 Dakar Rally with Audi in January, bringing the German auto giant its maiden victory. While Sainz was signed by Audi for a three-year factory program, the stint was cut short with the German brand ending its cross-country rally programme reportedly due to the lack of spare parts.

This won't be Sainz Sr’s first stint with Ford in rallying. The driver competed with the American auto giant on multiple occasions in the past. Sainz drove the Ford Sierra RS in his WRC debut in 1987 before joining the factory team the following season. He returned to Ford as a two-time WRC champion in 1996 and went on to score three wins in 1997 and 1998 before heading back to Toyota. Sainz joined hands with Ford once again between 2000-2002, making way for two wins and a podium finish in the three years.

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Ford will be unveiling its Dakar Rally 2025 contender in the coming weeks.

Sainz will be looking to seal his fifth Dakar win in the championship with Ford. The rally veteran has won the Dakar with four different brands throughout his career - Volkswagen, Peugeot, MINI and most-recently Audi.

Speaking about the rally program with Ford, Carlos Sainz Sr said, "I'm very excited by this new Dakar Rally project, to go back to working with Ford for the fourth time, and to return to M-Sport, to return to Malcolm [Wilson, founder of M-Sport] who I know very well, it's really great to be back," he said. My history with Ford goes all the way back to '87, and I think I was Malcolm's first driver, his first ever factory driver, back in the day, and I'm very proud of that. I'm really excited to be driving the Raptor truck, and to approach this big challenge with a lot of goals. One is to help Ford win the Dakar Rally.”