27-year-old American Mitch Guthrie Jr. joins Ford’s newly assembled Dakar Rally team alongside reigning champion and two time WRC Champion Carlos Sainz. In 2025 the Ford Raptor T1+ makes its Dakar debut and Guthrie Jr. steps up to the elite category of the world’s toughest rally.
The Californian enters the Dakar’s Ultimate (T1U) category after five years racing the Challenger class with the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team.
The Raptor T1+ is a bespoke design tailored to meet the unique challenges of the Dakar. The collaboration between Ford Performance, M-Sport and Red Bull is fitted with a fearsome V8 engine, advanced suspension and 37-inch tyres as American muscle attempts to tame the relentless Dakar.
“Ford is such a well-known brand and synonymous with the United States,” Guthrie Jr. reveals. “To now be in the T1+ category, driving for Ford… it’s a dream come true for me. I can’t wait to race against the best of the best.”
Guthrie Jr. made his own Dakar debut as part of the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team when Saudi Arabia hosted the rally for the first time in 2020. Impressive Challenger class results have followed with wins at the Sonora Rally and Desafio Ruta 40 en route to second place in the World Rally-Raid Championship and at the Dakar.
“Mitch’s achievements in off-road racing speak for themselves, and we’re confident he will be a valuable addition to our Dakar team,” Mark Rushbrook, Global Director of Ford Performance, explains.
Alongside Guthrie Jr. in his Ford Raptor T1+ will be co-driver Kellon Walch. This all-American pair have bagged an impressive eight stage wins across two editions of the Dakar while racing together in the Challenger class. Walch adds over 10 years of Dakar Rally experience to the mix, including a stage win while riding in the bike class.
The 2025 Dakar Rally runs January 3-17 with a racing distance of 5,000 spread across 14 days of competition. The rally will finish on the notorious sand dunes of the Empty Quarter as the rally’s difficulty increases day-by-day under the intense desert sun.
