Rokas Baciuška makes Dakar history for Defender

Remember the name Rokas Baciuška. The Lithuanian weathered two punctures to win the opening stage of the 2026 Dakar Rally in the Stock class. His feat means Defender has notched its first-ever stage victory in Saudi Arabia, as the brand makes its bow in the toughest off-road event on the planet.

Those who follow the rally-raid scene already know of the 26-year-old’s talents. Despite the fresh face, he is no stranger to the demands of the Dakar. Having switched from karting to rallying, he is taking on the gruelling enduro for a fourth time this year. The three previous attempts (each one earning a podium, by the way) came at the wheel of pumped-up buggies in the T4 and T3 classes, before his 2026 graduation to the all-new Stock category with Defender.

On the heels of team-mates Sara Price and Stéphane Peterhansel, Baciuška finished the short 23-kilometre Prologue opening leg on Saturday with the third-fastest time in class. Behind the rapid, bespoke-built prototype cars in the T1+ division that will be dicing for overall victory, Baciuška lined up 40th for Stage 1 as the runners and riders rolled out from the Yanbu ‘bivouac’, the starting base camp in the north-west on the coast of the Red Sea.

Ahead lay a trio of checkpoints on the 305-kilometre route. Now, the Dakar would not be the most notorious fixture on the rally-raid calendar if it kicked off with a gentle first leg. So, naturally, the course opened with narrow, twisting terrain scattered with sharp rocks just waiting to slash tyres. The landscape then gave way to faster sandy stretches peppered with suspension-buckling dunes.

Baciuška was strapped into his Defender Dakar D7X-R. As a Stock contender, it uses the same 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 found in the production-ready Defender OCTA. It also features a showroom-spec gearbox, drivelines, bodywork and chassis. With co-driver Oriol Vidal riding shotgun to call out directions, the duo battled through the dust and overcame two punctures to dominate the class. Finishing in just under 4 hours 5 mins, they topped the Stock leaderboard by a chunky 6 min 49 secs over the Toyota Land Cruiser of Ronald Basso in second place.

In doing so, Baciuška wrote two new chapters in Dakar history. On the team’s first official entry, Defender is now a stage winner. As for Baciuška, he has become the first-ever World Rally-Raid Championship driver to claim a stage win in all of the Stock, Ultimate, Challenger and SSV classes.

“This was a proper Dakar stage and a proper Dakar day,” said Baciuška. “It was not easy. It was a stony track and a few kilometres of dunes. But we finished P1 in this stage in our class, so let’s continue to work like that. Sometimes we will need to take it slow in the difficult terrain, but let’s see. The team, co-driver and driver together have to bring luck to the Dakar.”

More than twice the age of Baciuška, 60-year-old Peterhansel was the next-best Defender in fourth. The 14-time event winner, better known in the rally-raid realm simply as ‘Mr Dakar’, put his wealth of experience to good use. Faced with an unexpected power-steering issues, he settled in for an unplanned workout to expertly bring the car home in one piece. That puts him and navigator Michaël Metge around 49 minutes behind his team-mate.

Peterhansel explained: “Our steering issues began after 50 kilometres. Our massive wheels, combined with the trial-like terrain in certain sections, made it almost impossible to turn the steering wheel. I pushed as hard as I could. My shoulders are burning.”

Prologue winner Price also felt the full force of the Dakar. The American and co-driver Sean Berriman were approaching the 98-kilometre mark, the challenges of the terrain rang true when they hit a rock and broke a rear suspension arm. They had to sit tight for a support truck to arrive and supply a replacement part. Although they carried out another repair, the pair ultimately lost more than two hours.

Ian James, Team Principal of Defender Rally, said: “Dakar is coined as the ‘Everest of motorsport’, and today has been our first taste of exactly what that means. All three of our driver pairings got off to a strong start, with Rokas and Oriol powering on to take a debut stage victory – a huge milestone for Defender Rally and an achievement to be proud of. It was a challenging day for Stéphane and Mika, and for Sara and Sean, but the team has understood the issues and will put measures in place to mitigate the risk going forward. That being said, we know that tomorrow’s stage will be just as arduous.”

With barely a dent made in the 8,000-kilometre total distance of the 2026 Dakar, a new day, a new week, a new stage and even a new backdrop beckon. An early Monday alarm awaits the competitors as the convoy heads inland from Yanbu to ancient AlUla. In between lies just the small matter of a 400-kilometre timed assault course made up of fast open tracks and punishing, rock-strewn mountain passes. Stay tuned for more updates.

Defender OCTA | Master of Extreme Performance, Everywhere