Ford Raptor T1 Ultimate racer: An off-road GT40 to win Dakar

Posted by Talbot Payne on January 18, 2026

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — The desert-focused, 2026 Ford Raptor T1 Ultimate Dakar Rally car and the track-focused 1966 Ford GT40 Le Mans racer couldn’t be more different. The Raptor has half the top speed of the 200 mph-plus GT40, looks like a painted cockroach next to the sleek sports car, and bounces around on 37-inch all-terrain tires relative to the stiff GT40 whose roofline is only 40 inches tall.

But the V8-powered monsters’ mission is the same: establish the Dearborn automaker as the premier motorsports company on the planet.

In 1966, that meant beating Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans — the world’s premier sports car race — with the GT40. Sixty years later, the target is Toyota in a competition for bragging rights in the marathon 14-day Dakar Rally across Saudi Arabia desert. But if Ford’s Le Mans win was wrapped in marketing braggadocio, the Raptor T1 is part of a more sophisticated business model for the early 21st century.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Ford Raptor T1 designer Sam Purvis of M-Sport at Dakar Rally.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Ford Raptor T1 designer Sam Purvis of M-Sport at Dakar Rally.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News

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