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It would seem that Ford Performance is on a mission to Raptor the world. First, the F-150 received the off-road-ready treatment. Then, the Bronco garnered even more capability, and more recently, the Ranger received the rugged performance upgrades worthy of the badge. With all these rugged performers available off the dealer lot, you might wonder which one is the Lord of the Raptors?
To celebrate the Raptor T1+ taking on the 5,000-mile torture test known as the Dakar Rally, Ford Performance brought out three of its racers — James Deane, Joey Logano, and Hailie Deegan — who are more at home on the pavement to put the Bronco Raptor, F-150 Raptor R, and Ranger Raptor test across three challenging courses in the Ultimate Raptor Challenge.
James Pumphrey, actor and content creator at Speeed, hosted Ford Performance’s Ultimate Raptor Challenge, inspired by the grueling, 5,000-mile Dakar Rally, which is known as the world’s toughest race, in which the Raptor T1+ will compete this year. They also showed off a new line of Raptor T1+ swag available for sale.
“I’ve invited a few friends to help me out with this all great Motorsport athletes with amazing talent and experience, but none of them drive off-road, so when I offer them the opportunity to come and test out their Raptors, they jumped at the chance,” host James Pumphrey, actor and content creator at Speeed, said. “In this three-stage battle — inspired by the world’s toughest race, the Dakar Rally — we’re pitting the world’s three meanest trucks against each other.”
With Hailie Deegan in the Bronco Raptor, James Deane in the Ranger Raptor, and Joey Logano in the F-150 Raptor R, the challenge was on, and each driver put the dual-purpose machines to the test on a series of grueling courses.
Running in three timed stages featuring a variety of challenges and terrains were Hailie Deegan in the Bronco Raptor, Joey Logano in the F-150 Raptor R, and James Deane in the Ranger Raptor. The competition was tight, but one of the Raptors took the win by a narrow margin. You can see the results in the video above.
“…The Dakar Rally is made up of time stages, and Ford is entering with their Raptor T1+, and since most of us don’t have one of those, we’re putting the Raptors, we all know to the test each driver will compete in three stages,” James said. “One after the other, each run is the time from start to finish line challenging sections are sign-posted along the stage and include rocks, loose sand, tight turns, dunes, and jumps. Yeah, that’s right, these Raptors jump. The driver with the overall lowest time after all three stages wins.”
We won’t spoil the results, so you can enjoy the video above. That said, it was interesting that the top-two Raptors were nearly a dead heat, while the third-place Raptor wasn’t far behind. You can’t go wrong with any of these Raptors, but the first-place machine might just surprise you.
