Mattias Ekström, Nani Roma, and Carlos Sainz won’t be racing the Vegas to Reno like their teammate Mitch Guthrie, but they still got to feel out the Ford Raptor T1+ in the Nevada desert. Over the past week, M-Sport’s rally raid arm held its first test on American soil with the Raptor to gauge its capabilities before Guthrie races it on Friday.

Guthrie, the only American on the roster, wasn’t available for the test as he had recently gotten married. In the meantime, Ford flew in his W2RC comrades from Europe to participate in the test. Ekström is the lone driver of the three with any sort of stateside racing experience as he did two NASCAR Cup Series races in 2010.

The test was not pre-running (the Vegas to Reno Legends Rally in July was the official V2R “pre-run”) since it took place away from where the V2R course is. Ford secured a permit from the Bureau of Land Management that reserved some desert for the team to run on. Roma and Sainz completed their test on Saturday and went home after, while Ekström stuck around for a while longer.

The Raptor isn’t the only rally raider at the V2R as Century Racing will field the CR6-T for Brian Baragwanath and Mathieu Serradori. Although desert racing is a different discipline from raids, M-Sport and Century are eager to see how their Dakar-hardened machines fare at the longest desert race in the United States.

While the Raptor is one of the premier vehicles of its discipline and the CR6-T stars in T1.2, neither will go up directly against the Trophy Trucks. Instead of the Unlimited classes, they will respectively race in the newly-created Rally Raid 4WD and Rally Raid 2WD categories. This is because Ford and Century kept their rides in full rally trim, meaning FIA regulations like the restricted engine—which limits them to 170 km/h (105.6 mph) while the typical TT can travel over 130 mph—are still in place.

For sure a disappointing development for desert fans, but at least the Raptor can still scream despite the restrictor. The Raptor uses a Ford Coyote V8 engine, an anomaly in the bivouac compared to everyone else’s turbocharged V6 motors.

“Close my eyes and I hear Dan Smith and Dave Ashley racing by,” Baja legend Tim Morton remarked in reference to their Baja 2000 and 1000-winning Trophy Truck at the turn of the millennium.

In their main discipline, Roma is currently fourth in the World Rally-Raid Championship while Ekström and Sainz respectively sit seventh and ninth. Guthrie, the reigning V2R UTV overall winner, is 16th in points. Roma finished second overall at the Dakar Rally in January.

Featured image credit: Motorsports Safety Solutions