Land Rover will race the Defender in the 2026 Dakar Rally

In 2024, 182 cars completed the Dakar Rally. Which sounds good... until you realise that's 182 cars from a total of 340 entrants. So yeah, it's a really big, really scary race. Land Rover then, must clearly hate its Defender, because it has decided to enter its 4x4 into this really big, really scary race which just happens to be the toughest rally on planet Earth.

So it’s official: from 2026, a Defender will race in the Dakar Rally. Gulp.

Obviously, we jest. Land Rover must clearly really like its Defender and indeed its chances in the 2026 race. “Defender’s commitment will prove its extreme durability and capability in the world’s most demanding off-road competition,” said Land Rover.

Outside of that short statement, nothing’s been revealed about the 2026 Dakar-spec Defender. Maybe they’ll just take a V8-engined 90, chuck on a set of chonky tyres, set the air-con to ‘polar’ and send it. We’ll find out in due course.

Before 2026 comes 2025, and in 2025 Land Rover will be the “official car partner of the Dakar Rally”, which means it’ll provide a fleet of Defenders to support the event. They’ll have jobs like transporting Important Persons around, while six Defenders will be specially modified to “test routes for future Dakar events”.

“Anyone who loves motorsport will have a passion for Dakar,” said JLR’s motorsport boss, James Barclay. “It’s the Everest of motorsport and an event where success is dependent as much on human determination in the toughest of conditions as it is the ultimate test for vehicle and engineering capability. Bringing the world's most capable and iconic 4x4 to the world's most iconic rally-raid is a perfect fit.

“Our first time ever with a factory entry into the Dakar means we are right at the beginning of our journey. We are conscious of how much we have to learn and achieve before taking the start in 2026, but we are already well under way and looking forward to the adventure. We will share more details of this exciting programme at the Dakar Rally in 2025.”