M-Sport prepares its future arrival on the Dakar

A newcomer for the most famous rally-raid race! Based on a partnership with the South African structure Neil Woolridge Motorsport, also supported by Ford, M-Sport therefore intends to join the ranks of the Dakar in the years to come. The two entities are preparing to collaborate in order to share their technical skills and resources developed over 25 years of service to the American automobile giant. This partnership will initially take place in the form of a customer program intended for rally raid.

Through this program, M-Sport will become the global distributor of NWM's Ford Ranger T1+ and will become the European headquarters of the South African entity. In addition to customer support, M-Sport will collaborate with Neil Woolridge Motorsport on the development of the Ford Ranger, carrying out testing and gathering feedback across all customer programs. The first Ranger T1+ is expected to arrive in Europe at the end of May and will be available for a test and customer program thereafter.

Although the ambition of both actors is to eventually join the Dakar, no date has yet been leaked. Aware of the work to be done upstream, the rally raid race is “profile on the horizon”, knowing that “years of work and development are to be expected, in particular to put in place the appropriate infrastructure. »

“This is an important and exciting prospect for me, after almost 45 years in rallying, rally raid and the Dakar have always piqued my interest, explains Malcolm Wilson, managing director of M-Sport, who traveled to South Africa with his son to finalize this partnership. It is a discipline that I do not underestimate, and I am only too aware that it requires years of experience and expertise.

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M-Sport and NWM have a common vision, we believe our respective teams complement each other to create an unrivaled rally raid team. The NWM Ranger has definite potential, it is built on very solid foundations, Matthew tested the car during our visit and was very positive about his experience. It's fair to say that I'm not one to shy away from a challenge, that's what I love about motorsport and it's no secret that we have work to do to claim at the prestigious Dakar Rally. That said, I'm confident that M-Sport and NWM have the tools and know-how to push the Ford Ranger T1+ to new heights. »

M-Sport 🤝 @NWMSport

Two iconic off-road racing teams have joined forces to pursue Dakar ambitions 💪.#MSPORTERS pic.twitter.com/CIbhtQ7s7Z

- M-Sport (@MSportLtd) April 14, 2022