Defender’s Dakar campaign is off to a perfect start

Defender has kick-started the motorsport season in pretty perfect fashion by locking out the top three spots in its class in the opening Prologue of the 2026 Dakar Rally.

Since its inaugural event in 1978, the Dakar has worked hard to earn its reputation as the most gruelling fixture on the rally-raid calendar. Originally running from Paris to Dakar in Senegal, the off-road enduro now calls Saudi Arabia home. For this year’s 48th edition, the hardcore competitors must conquer near-vertical sand dunes, tyre-slashing rock crawls, thick mud, higher-speed gravel stages and canyons across 13 stages (plus one welcome rest day). Those who make it to the finish on 17 January (the attrition rate is something to be admired at the Dakar) will have racked up nearly 8,000 kilometers.

The Prologue on day one is a bit like an amuse-bouche for what’s to come: a short 23-kilometre timed loop just north of the Yanbu ‘bivouac’, this year’s starting base camp in the northwest of the country on the coast of the turquoise, Red Sea. Rather than having a say in the final leaderboard, the results of the Prologue determine the starting order for the opening stage. Think of it as a pseudo-qualifying heat, whereby the fastest crews get the chance to pick their preferred starting positions. Ideally, that’s somewhere in the middle of the pack. Put simply, you want to set off with a few tracks already laid down to help with navigation, but before they are carved out to become deep, time-sapping ruts.

Very handy for Defender as it makes its official Dakar debut, its three entries topped the times in the ‘Stock’ category. As the name suggests, this is the class for cars you can walk into a showroom and buy. Essentially rolling straight off the production line, the Defender Dakar D7X-R features the 4.4-litre V8 found in the Defender OCTA, a standard gearbox, drivelines, bodywork and chassis. Modifications are limited to a long-range fuel tank, beefier suspension and the required safety kit. So, unlike the dedicated prototype race cars in the T1+ class – with space frame chassis, big engines and loads of suspension travel that can pin the throttle and let the car soak up the pain – stock runners need to be more aware and carefully pick their way through the punishing terrain much better to lose a few seconds stamping on the brakes rather than waste minutes swapping an upright in the middle of the desert.

Acing the Prologue’s gravel tracks that picked their way through a series of small hills, Sara Price set the pace in the all-new Stock division alongside co-driver Sean Berriman. With her CV including an event win in the electric Extreme E off-road series, in addition to being the first female in history to drive the Baja 1000 solo, Price finished the timed section of the Prologue in 12 min 3.7 sec and started her campaign to become the first American woman to win the event. 

“Obviously, I’m super happy with the results,” she said. “I did not expect to do that well… I think this is a great way to start it off. But this is only the beginning. You can lose a lot in the Prologue; you can’t win it in the Prologue. This is the first step to having a good start position to hopefully have a good day tomorrow.”

Just four seconds behind was ‘Mr Dakar’, 14-time event champion Stéphane Peterhansel and his navigator Michaël Metge. The most successful competitor in Dakar history said: “It was a great feeling to be back, first of all. To feel the atmosphere of the Dakar – it’s a little bit like a family, so it’s really nice to be there at the start again. Today, it was the small Prologue. But finally, we enter the race, because this [Defender] project started one year ago – time to build the car, develop the car – and now we are here at the first stage. So, it’s a really good feeling.”

Completing the 1–2–3 for Defender was hotshot Rokas Baciuška. Likening the Prologue to “a warm-up for your muscles”, the 26-year-old Lithuanian finished hot on the heels of Peterhansel as he and co-driver Oriol Vidal stopped the clock at 12 min 08.2 sec – a mighty 53.5 seconds clear of the Toyota Land Cruiser in fourth.

Ian James, Team Principal of Defender Rally, said: “Defender’s debut at Dakar has got off to a strong start. Each of our drivers has finished the Prologue feeling calm, composed and confident ahead of tomorrow’s first full timed stage. We don’t underestimate the challenge that now lies ahead, but we are determined to take it on, and we’ll push to remain at the top.”

The 2026 Dakar kicks off properly tomorrow with the first Special Stage – a 305 km cocktail of narrow rocky terrain and faster sand dunes – plus an additional 213 km road liaison. That’s when the real Dakar starts, and Defender’s challenge really begins. So strap in for more updates. 

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