Ranger finishes tough Baja 1000 race in California
The proof of the pudding is always in the eating and this new Ranger left no doubt as to its durability and performance credentials.
The Baja is one of the toughest off-road races in the world and it proved an excellent opportunity for the new generation Ranger to prove its metal.
The Ranger’s near flawless race in the stock class was powered by a low-carbon biofuel from Shell.
“This effort showed that there’s no compromise in performance,” said Brian Novak, Motorsports supervisor, Ford Performance Novak.
“We’re here, finishing the Baja 1000 and winning our class, all on a biofuel. It’s so impressive that this was all done on a stock Ford Performance powertrain too.”
“We’re off-roaders at heart, so this is very big for us,” said Danny Brown, regional export manager, ARB.
“This is a pinnacle of our sport, for sure. Physically, this is about as tough as it gets and it’s a big honour for us to come over here and drive for Ford. To help this great group of drivers get to the finish on this extremely rough and demanding course, every piece of the puzzle had to be perfect.”
“It’s truly awesome,” said Brendan McGinniskin, motorsports supervisor, at Ford Performance Australia. “Spending the night out there chasing the truck was something I’ve never experienced before, and it was such a different experience of going racing. It was so cool and wouldn’t have been possible without all of the expert chase crews we had out here. Everyone pulled together and not even the few tense moments we had were going to stop us from crossing the finish line together.”
The race team, comprised Baja legend, Curt Leduc (team manager), and four teams of driver/co-driver pairings, Brad and Byam Lovell (Lovell Racing), Jason Hutter and Paul Blangstead (Fire Guys Racing), Loren Healy and Eric Davis (Fun-Haver Off-Road), with ARB’s Andy and Danny Brown anchoring the race.
The Ranger Raptor finished the race without any major incidents or repairs and took the chequered flag in such good condition that the team decided to drive the vehicle back to its base following the event.
Source: QuickPic
