Trio of Defender Dakar D7X-Rs
Defender is now its own brand, and it took on the world’s most extreme off-road event: the Dakar Rally in early January 2026 in Saudi Arabia. Part of parent automaker Jaguar Land Rover, the three-car Defender team nabbed 1st, 2nd, and 4th-place Stock class finishes. The new Stock class included three Defender Dakar D7X-Rs, two factory-backed Toyota Land Cruisers, and three privateer teams (though one did not start) in Nissan Patrols. The trio of Defender Rally teams achieved a ‘1-2-3’ result across 10 of the 13 stages, each taking away stage wins.

Rokas Baciuška, Oriol Vidal 502 Defender Dakar D7X-R Stage 3
Driver Rokas Baciuska and co-driver Oriol Vidal are 2026 Dakar Rally Stock class champions after competing in a factory-backed Defender Dakar D7X-R for 13 grueling stages. They finished with an overall time of 58h 09′ 45”.

Rokas Baciuška, Oriol Vidal 502 Defender Dakar D7X-R Stage 3
“The first half of Dakar was really difficult because the routes were tough and there were some rough stages, very stony. There are a lot of people out already from the first half,” said Baciuska exclusively to us. He also added that dreams can come true and his dream was winning at Dakar.

Rokas Baciuška, Oriol Vidal 502 Defender Dakar D7X-R Stage 3
The overall Stock class win for Baciuska and Vidal happened in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, just after Stage 13’s completion of just 55 minutes and 51 seconds. Lithuanian driver Baciuska, born in 1999, can now add the 2026 Dakar Stock class champion title to three W2RC titles and three other Dakar podiums (in Challenger and SSV classes), among other accolades. Vidal, Baciuska’s co-driver, also adds this to an impressive list of notable achievements and wins, like those with Baciuska at the Rallye du Maroc 2022, where they took 1st place in the SSV class. In their Dakar Rally competitions together, the pair came 2nd in SSV and 3rd in Challenger. In 2023, Vidal won the W2RC navigator’s title in SSV and was the runner-up at the Bajas World Cup in 2016.

Rokas Baciuška
“For the first year [to win] for Defender, it’s amazing,” the mid-20-year-old Baciuska stated. “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, the engineers, the entire team because without them, we would not be here.”

Sara Price, Sean Berriman 504 Defender Dakar D7X-R
Americans Sara Price (driver) and Sean Berriman (co-driver) in their #504 Defender Dakar D7X-R as it dashed over the desert during Stage 3’s effort in AlUla, Saudi Arabia. She and Berriman sealed the deal by finishing second in class, with her first Dakar podium finish and his second podium appearance. The first was in 2020 with Casey Currie in the SSV class.

Sean Berriman, Sara Price
Factory Defender team #504 and Price’s co-driver, Sean Berriman, was born in South Africa but moved to the United States when he was a child. He is a skilled mechanic and navigator who has been around racing nearly his entire life. Berriman got his first taste of Dakar in 2014 as a mechanic at the bivouac. But in 2015, he was unexpectedly thrust into the navigator’s seat when his role as an onboard mechanic for Jordi Ginesta ended after Jordi broke his back, and Alberto Herrero took over driving duties. Since then, he’s been involved in legendary competition in one form or another.

Sara Price
Sara Price hails from the United States, and this year marked her third Dakar Rally appearance. This was her first time with the newly formed Defender Rally Team, earning a second-place finish in the Stock Class. Her Dakar Rally debut was with Jeremy Gray in 2024, where she finished fourth overall in the SSV class and won Stage 10. She and Berriman then joined up in 2025 where a mechanical issue took them out of overall contention on Stage 2, however, they fought back to claim three stage wins in a Can-Am Maverick R.

Stéphane Peterhansel, Michaël Metge 500 Defender Dakar D7X-R
All three Defender teams stuck close together during the competition. While we were there covering the event in person, it was the third day in a row that the new works team achieved a Stage win in the Stock class. Each team, #500 Peterhansel and Metge, #502 Baciuska and Vidal, and #504 Price and Berriman earned stage wins early. Baciuska and Vidal took the Stage 1 win. This was followed by Price and Berriman taking the top spot for Stage 2 and Stephane Peterhansel with Mika Metge earning 1st place for Stage 3. That trend continued through 10 stages and to the rally’s finish in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.

Michaël Metge talking to Rokas Baciuška, Oriol Vidal
Co-driver Mika Metge (center), along with driver #500 Peterhansel, kept in close communication with fellow teammates Price and Berriman (#504), as well as #502 driver Baciuska (left) and co-driver Vidal (right) throughout the competition. Metge and ‘Mr. Dakar’ driver Stephane Peterhansel finished 4th in the Dakar Rally Stock class rankings. “Overall, it was a Dakar with full emotion,” Peterhansel said, “sometimes up, sometimes down. But the main target was to win the Stock class, and Rokas finished first and Sara second. It’s not exactly the result that I expect for me [and Mika], but I’m super happy because it was a really nice Dakar for me.” The trio of Defender Rally teams won all 13 stages (including the Prologue qualifying heat) in Saudi Arabia between January 3-17, 2026.

Inside Defender Dakar D7X-R Cockpit
Co-drivers Vidal, Berriman, and Metge have two computer screens set with a roadbook in each Defender Dakar D7X-R’s cockpit. Turn-by-turn directions pop up, one at a time, showing a generic arrow with key images, like a tree, bush, or other marker to refer to. It’s the co-driver’s job to process that information and call out each direction to the driver before said route instruction is passed so the driver can react in time. This happens in mere seconds as each vehicle is moving at speed, whether slicing through sand, ripping over rocks, or driving through dirt at high speed. Once the route instruction passes, the next one becomes visible.

Inside Defender Dakar D7X-R Behind Front Seats
Each of the Defender Dakar D7X-R rally vehicles is based off a stock Defender OCTA. They include three full-size spare tires and wheels, collectively weighing 150 kilograms (330 pounds). They also have a large fuel tank that brings a stock OCTA’s 90-liter tank (appr. 23.78 gallons) to 550 liters (just over 145 gallons), about six times what the stock vehicle can hold. The fuel tank is filled with 102-octane gasoline and is located behind the front seats just after the bulkhead. In addition to the tires, the tank adds an additional 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of weight on the rear axle. However, Defender beefed up the rear suspension with twin dampers, steel turrets, and other reinforcements.

Sara Price, Sean Berriman 504 Defender Dakar D7X-R
“The entire team is working round the clock to ensure our cars, the Defender Dakar D7X-Rs, are performing to the best of their ability. And on top of that, we have three world-class crews that are expertly making their way through some of the most challenging terrain in the Saudi Arabian landscape,” said Jack Lambert, Head of Technical Integration, Defender Rally. While we were there for Stage 2 and 3, the support crew was working around the clock, getting only a few hours of sleep, if that, to ensure all three vehicles were in tip-top rally raid shape.

American flag, near the end of Stage 2 Dakar Rally
The 2026 Dakar Rally was held in Saudi Arabia, continuing its rally raid legacy which originally started in Paris and finished in Dakar, Senegal in 1978. This year’s competition included 812 competitors from 69 nations (including support crews). The competition showcased 433 vehicles. Thirty-nine total women competed in the Dakar Rally (one of them was Defender Rally Team’s American Sara Price); 19 of them in the Dakar Classic.

Stage 3 Starting Line
The Dakar Rally starting line showcases all types of teams, each leaving at a designated number of seconds after the previous team’s departure time. We witnessed several competitors leave Stage 3’s start line, including various SSV teams, large T5-type trucks, Classic car entries, and motorcycles.

Defender Support Vehicle
This was one of a sea of stock Defender support vehicles, equipped with a rooftop tent for staff to sleep in, vehicle recovery gear, awning, and other supporting items.

Saudi Arabia Desert Drive in Stock Defender
We drove in the Saudi Arabian desert on our way from the city of AlUla to our Stage 3 viewing area. It was surreal driving in the country as a woman, knowing they were just allowed to drive legally in Saudi Arabia in 2018. We encountered rocky bits, sandy stretches, and breathtaking rock formations. The stock Defender handled the terrain we threw at it with ease and comfort.

Man Watching Dakar Rally From Rock Wall
Rally fans can watch the Dakar Rally from any vantage point, including on top of large rock formations like the man found here. Saudi Arabia gave teams every type of terrain to tackle. They encountered massive sand dunes, large rocky swaths, hard and loose dirt tracks, and more.

Photos by Mercedes Lilienthal