Neil Woolridge Motorsport and M-Sport are eager to unleash their new Ford Ranger T1+ in the 2024 Dakar Rally, and Past-Racing is eager to let others have a shot at doing so themselves. The Spanish team has a fleet of the vehicle and will put them up for rental to those who hope to run the World Rally-Raid Championship or the FIA World Baja Cup in 2024, followed by the Dakar Rally starting 2025.
The Ford Ranger T1+ began development in 2022 with plans of débuting at the 2023 Dakar Rally before it was pushed back a year by supply chain concerns. It ran its first race at the Baja España Aragón in July, where Nani Roma and Gareth Woolridge respectively finished sixth and eleventh overall. Roma then entered the W2RC’s Rallye du Maroc in October and impressed with a third-place run.
Roma and Woolridge will continue to race the Rangers at the 2024 Dakar Rally, which begins 5 January. The former is a two-time Dakar Rally champion while Woolridge is entering his maiden Dakar on the heels of clinching the 2023 South African Rally-Raid Championship.
NWM, owned by Woolridge’s father Neil, has produced forty-five Ford Rangers for both T1 and T1+ competition since 2013. T1+ cars are more powerful than their T1 counterparts, boasting advantages like larger wheels and more suspension travel that make them the top subcategory in the now-Ultimate class.
Past-Racing joined NWM at the SARRC season-ending Waterberg 400 in November, where Daniel Alonso and Alejandro Lopez retired.
“We are delighted to see growing interest from around the world for our T1+ Ranger, and we are confident that our South African championship success, our solid results internationally leading up to the Dakar Rally, as well as our participation at this crucial event in January, will spur on further demand from around the world,” said Neil Woolridge.
Besides Past-Racing, NWM also supports Wors Prinsloo‘s privateer team in the SARRC and X Rally Team in the Brazilian championship. The latter claimed the T1 FIA and T1 national titles with Gunther Hinkelmann and Rodrigo Aché, respectively.
For 2024, the W2RC is five rounds long including the Dakar Rally while the World Baja Cup has eight races including the Baja Aragón in Spain.