Revered, respected and regarded as the toughest race in the world ... the Dakar Rally hasn't earned this fearsome reputation for nothing. And today, its unforgiving nature hit home hard for the Ford Performance Neil Woolridge Motorsport M-Sport team.
Unfortunately Nani Roma and Alex Haro (#210) saw their charge towards the top 10 come to an end with engine trouble early in today's stage. They were towed to the Al Duwadimi bivouac where the team found engine damage due to sand ingress in the intake system.
A new engine is being fitted, and although the crew will incur a resulting engine penalty, they will be back in action for Stage 8 tomorrow, continuing the team's objective to "finish and learn" at #Dakar2024. They can be exceptionally proud of completing the tough first week of this year's event in 13th place overall on the T1+ Ranger's Dakar debut!
Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer (#225) were flying today, setting the 11th fastest time at the 39km checkpoint, and passing the 173km mark in 22nd place, just 12:53 off the leader. However, they were caught out by a single caution at 178km that led to the car rolling.
Gareth and Boyd had to abandon the stage, but were able to repair the car in order to head back to the main road. They are currently on the 200km journey to the bivouac where the damage will be assessed and the car repaired, with the aim of getting both cars to the end of the event.
Source: Ford Performance South Africa official FB page
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