Ford Performance is ready to take on the Finke Desert Race next month, with the same Ford Ranger Raptor that conquered Baja last year.
The “Blue Oval” is best known in Australia for chasing success at tracks such as Bathurst and Adelaide in the Supercars arena, but in a fortnight it is heading to the red centre for a different challenge.
After collecting a class win at the Baja 1000 based in North America, Ford Performance has set their sights on the Finke Desert Race.
The countdown is on for the famous race held on June 9-12 and Ford’s challenger has been unveiled at Walkinshaw’s Clayton based factory.
Much of the fabrication and roll cage etc was built by Todd Kelly at Kelly Racing, while the overall build project was overseen by Australian production engineers Brendan McGinniskin and Justin Capicchiano.
Capicchiano performs the role of Ford Performance and Special Vehicles Engineering Manager, Australia, while McGinniskin is currently the Ford Performance Motorsport Engineering Lead.
Now the car is now truly on home soil and is ready to race for glory with father-son duo Brad and Byam Lovell at the wheel in the Production 4WD Class.
Ford Performance Motorsports Global Director Mark Rushbrook said the company is buzzing to see the Ranger Raptor racing on the Northern Territory dirt following successful stints in America.
“We are excited about racing with the Ranger Raptor at Finke,” he said.
“We have a great commitment to racing and there is more and more of an interest in the off road racing space.
“We were certainly excited by what we are able to do with the Ranger Raptor program in Baja with a great group of people.
“It had great success there and now the same truck is going back to Australia for the Finke Desert race.”
The Ford Ranger Raptor in action at the Baja 1000 last year. Image: Supplied
The new Ford Ranger Raptor is powered by a 3.0L twin-turbo V6 engine and is equated with the largest permissible wheels in the class of 35 inches.
Rushbrook further explained the reason behind the Finke program was to put the Ranger Raptor to the ultimate test.
“We have done this to show the great products we have and put them into some of the world’s toughest tests like Baja and Finke to show what they are capable of,” he said.
“Finke is another proving ground, especially with the way the product has developed.
“It is another opportunity to race it at an important market like Australia, which is a tough proving ground to see what it is capable of.”
Rushbrook also said taking on the Finke Desert Race for the first time is another example of the brand’s commitment to the “important” Australian market.
“It (Australia) is still an important footprint for us in terms of our employees, development work and sales and services,” he said.
“We have a lot of employees here that are important to us and part of the mission of Ford Performance is employee pride, so we want to show a racing product in front of them.
“We are a global company committed to racing around the world and Australia is still a very important market for us.”
The Ford Ranger Raptor will be seen at the Finke Desert Race from June 9-12.
PODCAST: The latest episode of the Auto Action RevLimiter podcast is out now!
Andrew Clarke and Auto Action’s Bruce Williams and Paul Gover sat down for a candid chat on the teams, drivers and the Supercars series championship.
