Defender Rally’s bold venture into the world of rally-raid competition just got a major stamp of approval: the first competition-spec Defender Dakar D7X-R has completed its grueling test in the eastern Moroccan desert. The test track? Terrain made for nightmares: dunes, stony plains, wadis, rock gardens, and sand tracks that would chew up ordinary vehicles.
This wasn’t the first prototype run, but rather the first time the fully competition-spec D7X-R was pushed over distances and conditions akin to what the 2026 Dakar will throw at it. The team started with shorter dune loops and then scaled up to hundreds-of-kilometre stages, simulating long, back-to-back days in the desert.
Stéphane Peterhansel, the 14-time Dakar champion, said the test was “fantastic,” noting that running in Morocco’s unforgiving terrain is critically important given that Dakar features nearly 5,000 km of timed stages over similar surfaces.
From Defender Road Car to Rally Contender
One of the most compelling aspects of this project is how close the D7X-R remains to its road-going roots. Under the metal, it shares the D7x aluminium body architecture, transmission, and driveline layout with the production Defender OCTA. Even that hulking 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 is carried over from the production side.
The body shell was assembled on the standard Defender line in Nitra, Slovakia, before being handed over to the motorsport crew in the UK for the rally-raid conversion. The choice to compete in the new “Stock” category is deliberate: the brand wants to show that the Defender you can buy and drive (with mods) still has the heart to compete at the highest level.
Land Rover’s program is slated to run for three years, beginning with the 2026 Dakar as their works entry. Beyond just competing, the program is advertised as a way to showcase Defender’s durability and capability under extreme stress.
Drivers, Ambitions, and the Road to Dakar
Defender Rally didn’t skimp on talent. The lineup reads like a celeb list of rally-raid cred: Stéphane Peterhansel, Sara Price, and Rokas Baciuška will pilot the D7X-Rs under full competition conditions. Peterhansel’s involvement alone elevates expectations — he’s intimately familiar with what it takes to win, having 14 Dakar victories under his belt.
In the test, co-drivers practiced with digital navigation “roadbooks,” mimicking Dakar’s format where the next stage’s route only appears minutes before the stage begins. At Dakar 2026, three Defenders will compete in the Stock class. For the rest of the W2RC (World Rally-Raid Championship), a two-car entry will carry the banner.
But make no mistake — the clock is ticking. With only a few months before the January 2026 launch ramp in Yanbu, every test, every daylight run, every component needs to prove itself. This Sahara run may have been brutal, but it was also a milestone. If the D7X-R emerges from Yanbu with its dignity intact — and with a competitive pace — it will be one of the boldest entries in Dakar memory.
Ian James Is Now In Charge
While the D7X-R was getting its desert torture test, a new leader was being introduced into the mix: Ian James has been appointed Team Principal of Defender Rally and concurrently is now Managing Director of JLR Motorsport.
James arrives with serious pedigree. He’s known for his time in electric racing, having led McLaren’s racing programs and, before that, having had stints with Mercedes-EQ in Formula E. In fact, his appointment to Jaguar TCS Racing as Team Principal was announced broadly in motorsport circles — so his responsibilities now straddle both the electrified circuit world and the brutal rally-raid desert.
In his comments on the Dakar project, James framed it as a “bucket list” opportunity — not just a sideline, but something that reconnects with his deeper motorsport roots outside the always-growing world of electric racing.
