Rallye du Maroc – Carlos Sainz, a short-lived fanfare start with Ford

With its big naturally aspirated V8 from the Ford Mustang, the Ford Raptor is the loudest and most melodious 4x4 of this Rally du Morocco 2024. But this is clearly not the most reliable. Indeed, the operating team M-Sport preferred not to launch the car Carlos Sainz storming the desert this Tuesday, October 8 due to abnormal data when warming up the vehicle.

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“Unfortunately, this morning I started the car and we noticed a problem with the data, explained Carlos Sainz. The team decided to check all the numbers properly and not take the risk of going out with the car and breaking something at this stage of the rally or our preparation. It would not have been the right thing to do. We decided to retire for today."

1a step complicated with many rocks and dunas. So you are very satisfied with the car in our first competitive race. Always do things to improve, but the organization of the work is the same. ¡Seguimos! 🙌🏻

Challenging 1st stage with rocky terrain and dunes. Still really… pic.twitter.com/CEjkbAJ5n5

- Carlos Sainz (@CSainz_oficial) October 7, 2024

A hard blow for "El Matador", who had distinguished himself by taking 3rd place in the 1st stage the day before. The British team is looking to get the Ford back on track for the rest of the event, without any ambition in the general classification. In any case, this does not change anything, because Ford having homologated its Raptors in FIA 2025 version, the blue 4x4s are in the Experimental category and are not involved in the fight for the general classification concerning the Toyota, Dacia and other Minis.

"I hope I can continue and get some mileage in the Ford. Yesterday was a positive day, although we still have a few small issues. We're pretty happy overall."