Before heading to the desert for the 2025 Dakar Rally, M-Sport and Ford Performance‘s new Ford Raptor will tackle the forests of Hungary when Nani Roma enters the Hungarian Baja in August.
He is a two-time winner of the Hungarian Baja, claiming the 2013 and 2018 editions in a Mini, but cannot add a third in 2024 even if he sets the fastest time. Since the car has not been homologated for FIA European Baja Cup regulation at the moment as M-Sport continues to iron out the details, it will be classified as an Open entry and is ineligible for ranking. Nevertheless, he will be grouped with the European Cup rather than the national championship.
Roma has been M-Sport’s lead rally raid pilot since the programme’s launch. He was the test driver of the Ford Ranger T1+ before débuting it at the Baja Aragón last year alongside Gareth Woolridge, where he finished ninth, then built upon that with a third in its maiden World Rally-Raid Championship start at the Rallye du Maroc. At the Dakar Rally in January, Roma and Woolridge were both set back by mechanical issues that ruined their overall finishes, though the former notched a ninth in Stage #11.
Woolridge, who was part of the team via partnership with Neil Woolridge Motorsport, is no longer involved with the project as NWM focuses on the Ranger whereas M-Sport develops the Raptor. Reigning Dakar winner Carlos Sainz joined the Raptor programme in May and will help unveil the truck at this weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.
“Taking on such an enormous challenge requires the best engineers, designers, team members, navigators and drivers, and in Nani Roma and Carlos Sainz Sr., we have two of the most experienced and successful drivers in Dakar history,” said Ford Performance racing global director Mark Rushbrook in May. “The Ford Raptor is already showing promising signs in testing and having two of the best drivers in the world with us for the ride gives us confidence for the continued development of the truck.”
Scheduled for 8–11 August, the Hungarian Baja is the third round of the European Baja Cup.
