Dakar Rally 2026 entrants, beware: the V8 Land Rover Defender OCTA is coming

2026 is going to be a busy year for the Defender OCTA because Land Rover has just confirmed its entry into the World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC), beginning with the Dakar in January. Talk about tough initiations.

It’s being entered into the ‘Stock’ class, which is seeing big regulation changes for next year to focus more stringently on how durable a production car is out of the box. The ideal test for what the marque calls its “most dynamically accomplished Defender ever”, then.

Land Rover has already confirmed the competition cars will utilise the same basic ‘D7X’ architecture, which comprises a lightweight aluminium monocoque that’s said to be three times stronger than a traditional body-on-frame design. 

The OCTA also sits 28mm higher than standard Defenders, aided by a fancy adaptive suspension which has a network of cross-linked hydraulic dampers incorporated to eliminate as much pitch, dive and roll as possible. 

Further good news for the OCTA’s assault on the big stage are those 33in tyres - the largest ever fitted to a Defender - while the redesigned bumpers mean even greater approach and departure angles than standard. 

No word on whether Land Rover plans to modify the 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8, but given it already produces 626bhp and accelerates to 62mph in under four seconds, it’s unlikely. More so because the OCTA will have no trouble hitting such speeds as easily on tarmac as it will on a thick layer of crushed moon rock and Nokia 3310 fragments. 

Reckon this spruced-up Defender has what it takes to win the W2RC?