Ford Ranger Raptor 2019 announced as Supercars recovery vehicle

Ford Performance has announced its Ranger Raptor pick-up has been named as the official recovery vehicle for the Supercars Championship series, starting this weekend at the Sandown 500 race.

The Ranger Raptor will continue on as official recovery vehicle for the rest of the year and throughout the 2019 season.

From the outside, the Raptor is stock standard apart from its racetrack livery that identifies it as a recovery vehicle, as well as flashing lights mounted on the roof, side-mounted lights and night working lamps.

Inside, it gains specialist communications equipment including a radio and a Dorian timing transmitter, which allows the Raptor to monitor the position of each vehicle on the racecourse for rapid response, and can also locate medical and course vehicles in case of emergency.

No mechanical changes have been made to the Ranger Raptor, which retains its 157kW/500Nm 2.0-litre twin-turbo-diesel engine, 10-speed auto, Fox suspension, Watts Link rear suspension and 33-inch BF Goodrich all-terrain rubber.

For the 2019 season, the Ranger Raptor will be joined by the Ford Performance Mustang Supercar, which will make its debut in the racing series in March at the Adelaide 500.

Head of recovery for Supercars Alastair Walker said the versatility of the Ranger Raptor would make for a great recovery vehicle.

“The Recovery Raptor needs to able to respond to incidents at a moment’s notice, whether they be on the race track itself or off-track in the mud, gravel or sand,” he said.

“It needs to be able to operate on any surface and be flexible in allowing the driver to quickly shift between the different types of surfaces and different modes of recovery , where you may need to engage 4WD Low Range to pull something out of a fence or gravel trap, for instance.”

Is the Ranger Raptor a good choice for official Supercars recovery vehicle? Tell us what you think in the comments below.