Defender Rally team won the 2026 Dakar Rally, considered the world's most grueling off-road challenge, in its debut year.
After two weeks of brutal racing, all three crews of the Defender Rally team swept the top ranks, showing overwhelming skill.
Rokas Baciuška and Oriol Vidal crowned champions in the Defender Dakar D7X-R in the Stock institutional sector, while their teammates Sara Price and Sean Berriman finished second. Adding to that, Stéphane Peterhansel, known as "Mr. Dakar," and Mika Metge placed fourth, resulting in all three entered teams occupying the top positions.
The three crews of the Defender Rally team took first, second and third in 10 of the 13 stages, proving focused operation, precise performance and unwavering team spirit. Over 14 days of extreme competition, the three Defender Dakar D7X-Rs crossed the Saudi Arabian desert and together covered a team total of 24,000 km.
Rokas Baciuška, the Defender Rally driver who finished first, said he was moved that his long-held dream of winning Dakar came true in the first year with Defender. He said he was very happy that the Defender Rally team took both first and second, and that he could not forget how the mechanics worked hard every dawn for the next stage. He added that without the engineers and every member of the team, they could never have stood where they are now.
Sara Price, who finished second, said Dakar Rally was an incredibly amazing experience. She said the team's goal was for everyone to cross the finish line together on the final stage, and that seeing the whole team gather at the finish line to share joy clearly showed what this challenge meant.
Stéphane Peterhansel, a 14-time Dakar Rally winner, said the final stage was short but fast and dynamic, so he enjoyed driving from start to finish. He said this Dakar was a race with big emotional ups and downs overall, but he was very pleased that Rokas and Sara achieved the Stock institutional sector victory that was their main goal. He added that although his personal result differed somewhat from his expectations, the adventure with excellent staff and top teamwork was a very satisfying and joyful experience for him.
The winning Defender Dakar D7X-R is based on the high-performance Defender OCTA. Each Defender Dakar D7X-R was produced at a state-of-the-art factory in Nitra, Slovakia, on the same body assembly line as the production Defender. It adopts the same D7x architecture, transmission and driveline layout as the most powerful production Defender, the OCTA, and is also equipped with the same 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine. However, to cope with the extreme conditions of the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC), track width was increased, ride height was raised, and a dedicated suspension and reinforced cooling system were additionally applied.
During the event, the Defender Rally team was supported by official partners Castrol, YETI, Bilstein, Bell & Ross and Epic Games, Inc., and Shackleton and Alpinestars participated as official suppliers.
Mark Cameron, managing director of Defender, said the moment felt unbelievably overwhelming. He said the sight of three Defenders crossing the finish line together is the fruit of the whole team's efforts, and that they made history by winning on their first entry and showed impressive performance by taking up to second place. He added that team unity was remarkable and every member felt great pride.
Ian James, director general of Defender Rally, said he was very proud of the entire team. He emphasized that while the result of winning was excellent, the process in which every team member joined forces to overcome limits throughout the event was exceptional. He sincerely congratulated not only Rokas and Oriol, who won, but all team members, and said he hopes their performance will continue.
The Defender Rally team is scheduled to compete in the next round of the W2RC, the "BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal," held from Mar. 17 to 22.
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