Jeffrey AronsonIf you enter the Dakar, you’ll tackle 4,912 miles of Saudi Arabian desert over 14 days, from tire-puncturing rocky trails to soft dunes ready to swallow up your vehicle. You’ll do so at crazy speeds that require intense mental discipline and constant communication between driver and navigator over many hours per day. You’ll share the course routes with 316 other competitors. The usual attrition rate from failures to accidents is 40%; this year’s new challenges increased that to 58%.
All these factors made the triumph of the three Defender D7X-R teams even more impressive. The Defender D7X-R came, saw and conquered the Stock Class, winning 1st, 2nd and 4th in their class. Even more impressive, a Defender team finished in first place in every one of the 13 grueling stages. You must go back 44 years to find a factory team winning in its inaugural year.
Sam Allen, JLR NA Brand Director for Defender could barely contain his excitement when he announced in a phone interview, “The Defenders dominated. This demonstrates that the narrative of durability and capability has been understated for several years.”
“The rally D7X-R is 70% a stock OCTA,” noted Sam, with enhancements to meet FIA regulations, increased fuel tank capacity, and the coil-over remote reservoir shock/spring to meet the daily bounces off-road. A wider track for bigger tires, increased ride height and enhanced cooling capacity to deal with Saudi temperatures were the other modifications to the D7X-R, which started life on the same assembly line as every production OCTA. There were no changes to the engine or transmission settings.
Ian James became the Managing Director and Team Principal of JLR Motorsports last October, after stints with McLaren and Mercedes. With a new vehicle in the D7X-R, it made sense to bring aboard the best international driver/navigator teams, starting with 14-time Dakar winner Stéphane Peterhansel (France) pair him with Mika Metge (France), a motocross champion (and relative of René Metge, the 1981 Paris-Dakar winning driver in a Range Rover Classic). Then, Defender offered SSV champions Rokas Baciuška (Lithuania) and Oriol Vidal (Spain) seats in the second entry, followed up with Sara Price (USA) [2024 Dakar Best Rookie] and Sean Berriman (South Africa), the winner in 2020, in the third Defender.
For technical assistance, JLR teamed up with their UK neighbor, Prodrive, a hugely experienced company supporting international off-road competition, including previous Dakar and W2RC rally series. Their logistics and service techs worked closely with the Defender teams prior to and during the Dakar.
Andrew Lytheer of Prodrive spoke to their working relationship with Defender: “Prodrive’s engineers worked hand-in-hand with Defender’s engineers, combining the knowledge of Defender OCTA as a vehicle and the necessary requirements of rally-raid, which enabled a development time for the Defender Dakar D7X-R of less than a year. We could not be more proud of the Defender Rally team’s achievement!”
Last November, we interviewed Sara Price and asked her for her impressions of her rally Defender. “The D7X-R takes the Defender OCTA suspension and drivetrain to new levels,” she said. “The major suspension change is, whereas OCTA rises on an air suspension, the D7X-R uses coil springs for durability under the extremes of endurance rallying. There’s no change in the OCTA gearbox as none were required.”
“What I like best about the D7X-R is the power and usability of this Defender. It feels compact and agile. With the extra weight of tires, parts and fuel, you wouldn’t think that would be the case — it’s crazy! My navigator, Sean Berriman, who won the Dakar in 2020 and will now be competing in his 8th Dakar, is also an airplane pilot which gives him an added advantage in reading terrain. As we’ll be traveling at much higher speeds than in a side-by-side, you can get yourself into big problems really fast. We’ll need to know exactly where we’re going!”
“Physical fitness is critical as physical fatigue leads to mental fatigue. I have a long history of fitness from my motocross days and work hard to maintain that level. Motocross taught me how to read the terrain, and it imposed both mental and physical stamina.”
It worked brilliantly, as by the rally’s end, Defender had secured First, Second and Fourth place wins in the Stock category. First Place winner Rokas Baciuška said, “Dreams come true, you know, and it was my dream to win the Dakar. For the first year for Defender, it’s amazing. Our mechanics did a great job — what they do is unbelievable, working every day until early in the morning to prepare the cars for the next stage. I give my thanks to them, to the engineers, and the entire team, because without them, we would not be here.”
Sara Price, the Second Place stock class winner, said, “Two years ago, every penny I could save went to getting into the Dakar. We had a goal at the final stage to get to the finish line together, so to see the whole Defender team sitting there and all their excitement and emotions, it just shows what this is all about and what it means. To get this team to the finish line and in places 1, 2 and 4, is just wow, incredible.”
Stéphane Peterhansel suffered an alternator failure near the end of the 13 stages, and received penalty points for the enforced tow to the bivouac. Displaying extraordinary driving, he powered his way back into the competition and secured 4th place for the Defender team. This added to the overall team success in placing 1-2-3 in 10 of the 13 competitive stages.
Ian James said, “I couldn’t be more proud of our victory and the manner in which everybody pulled together and worked so hard. A huge congratulations, of course, to Rokas and Oriol in particular, and to every member of the team!”
For Mark Cameron, Managing Director of Defender, “to see the three Defenders come over the line together, it’s the culmination of an incredible team effort. To see us win it in our first race has made history, and to also come in second and fourth in such style, we’re all so proud.”
Rally-raid enthusiasts consider the Dakar “The Everest of motorsports,” and it served as the first round of the 2026 World Rally Championship (W2RC). As we go to press, the series continues with the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, March 17–22.
As Sara Price told me, “This is the dream ride. It doesn’t get better than this!”