This is the Defender Dakar D7X-R that Land Rover will field in the 2026 Dakar Rally. Based on the Defender OCTA, it’ll contest the event’s new Stock class, the three-car Defender Rally team headed by 14-time Dakar winner Stéphane Peterhansel.
The D7X-R shares much with the OCTA, which essentially serves as a homologation special. The chassis and bodyshell are carried over unchanged, as is the powertrain. Though the BMW-sourced 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 engine is actually detuned from the OCTA’s 550hp to meet the FIA’s regulations and it runs on sustainable fuel supplied to all Dakar competitors. There’s also ‘flight mode’, which automatically adjusts the torque balance between engine and wheels to smooth landing after a jump – of which there a lot on the Dakar.
35-inch BF Goodrich tyres are used and dictate a 60mm-increase in track and raised ride height. The suspension is heavily uprated with rally-grade Bilstein dampers – there are two on each back wheel – and the brakes feature six-piston calipers at the front, and four-piston items at the back.
Other changes necessary for desert racing include a single, massive cooling fan instead of the OCTA’s three, an air filtration system that stops sand getting into the cabin, built-in hydraulic jacks, an immense rollcage, a comprehensive kit of tools and spares, motorsport dashboard display and a gigantic 550-litre fuel tank.
After the Dakar, the Defender Rally D7X-R will contest the rest of the FIA World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC). It made its competition debut on last weekend’s Dubai International Baja, Stéphane Peterhansel finishing 12th overall. He last contested the Dakar in 2024, driving for Audi. He’s joined by 2024 W2RC Challenger class champion Rokas Baciuška and Sara Price, who’s shown great speed on the Dakar driving a Challenger-class Can-Am Maverick.
The Stock class the Defender competes in replaces the Production category that’s been very poorly supported in recent years, just a few factory-backed Toyota Land Cruisers contesting the Dakar. Stock regulations are a little freer – Group N+, if you will – which the FIA hopes will attract more competitors. Thus far, Defender Rally is the only other factory team to sign up.
There has been a strong Land Rover presence on the Dakar Rally over the decades, indeed Range Rovers won in 1979 and 1981. But this is the first full factory campaign, coming a few years after Land Rover bought off-road racing specialist Bowler. There’s no word yet if the Defender Rally D7X-R will be available to customer teams.
The 2026 Dakar Rally runs from 3 to 17 January, criss-crossing Saudi Arabia for 8000km.
Graham King is a Senior Staff Writer on the Bauer Automotive Digital Hub, working across CAR and Parkers
By Graham King
Senior Staff Writer for Parkers. Car obsessive, magazine and brochure collector, trivia mine.
