Range Rover Evoque to enter Dakar Rally

The British Excite Rally Raid Team will race three T3 cars, based on the Range Rover Evoque, which will be commissioned by RaBe Race Cars and driven by an all-British line-up consisting of Martin Rowe, Andrew Coley and John Hardy.

The Evoque rally car will be powered by a BMW-sourced 3.0-litre turbocharged straight-six diesel that produces 275bhp and 650Nm of torque.  A ZF 6-speed transmission will transfer power to the massive BF Goodrich desert tyre-equipped wheels.

“We’ve been working on this project for a long time”, said the team’s business manager David Jones. “We were approached by a manufacturer, RaBe Race Cars, whose staff has been around the sport for a long time. Seeing our professional approach, they asked if we could work together. We have goals we can assist each other with, so we have now set our sights a bit higher.”

Mike Jones of RaBe Race Cars commented: “We have years of off-road motorsport experience at every level, from club to international works teams. The last 15 years have been devoted to Desert raging and achieving top honours at Dakar. It is little known, but we have built cars for many other teams who race under their own colours and logos.”