2026 Defender Dakar Rally Team: Why Sara Price Might Just Be Land Rover’s Secret Weapon
By Nik Miles | Test Miles
If you thought Defender was content being the posh SUV in your neighbor’s driveway, think again. The British brand best known for whisking royals through muddy fields is strapping on a helmet and heading into the scorched madness of the 2026 Dakar Rally. And they’re not doing it quietly.
The big news? American rally phenom and motocross legend Sara Price is joining Defender’s factory team. She’s not just along for the ride—she’s rounding out a trio of off-road gladiators that includes Stéphane Peterhansel (a man who’s practically got a Dakar postcode) and rising Lithuanian talent Rokas Baciuška. It’s a driver lineup that reads like the Avengers of desert endurance—with Price bringing the grit, the flair, and the fresh underdog energy Dakar loves.
Why does this matter now?
Because the Defender brand—having already reinvented itself from bare-bones bush-crawler to luxury-laced 4×4—is going back to its roots. Not by staging Instagram safaris, but by proving, in the furnace of rally-raid competition, that luxury and capability aren’t mutually exclusive.
This is no PR puff. Defender is fielding three competition-prepped D7X‑R rally cars in the ‘Stock’ category for production-based vehicles. Translation: the bones of these machines are closely related to the ones you can buy. They’re betting the brand on it—literally.
Who is Sara Price—and why is she a big deal?
Let’s clear something up. Sara Price doesn’t just “represent diversity” in motorsport. She wins. On two wheels, she racked up 19 national titles before she could legally drive. Then she pivoted to four, became an X-Games medalist, slayed the Baja 1000 in a Trophy Truck, raced for Chip Ganassi in Extreme E, and in 2024, became the first American woman to win a stage in the Dakar Rally.
That’s not a résumé. That’s a declaration of war.
Defender knows this. Which is why they didn’t just slap her name on a press release—they put her in the test program early. She’s integral to developing the D7X‑R, shaping a machine that has to survive the kind of terrain that would chew through lesser 4x4s like stale biscuits.
How does this team stack up?
Price is joined by Peterhansel—fourteen-time Dakar winner, legend, and human GPS. If you dropped him in a sandstorm blindfolded, he’d probably still win. And then there’s Baciuška, the wildcard. At just 25, he’s already podium-proven and aggressive. Think of him as the Red Bull-chugging millennial to Peterhansel’s zen master and Price’s California cool.
Together, this isn’t a team built for podium photos. It’s built to win—and maybe rattle a few legacy brands in the process.
What’s the vehicle—really?
The Defender D7X‑R will run in the “Stock” class, which—despite sounding like something you’d see at Costco—means real-world relevance. These aren’t purpose-built prototypes. They’re based on production Defenders, albeit with serious tweaks for rally duty: stripped weight, upgraded suspension, cooling enhancements, and presumably cup holders that don’t rattle loose at 120 mph through fesh-fesh.
The clever bit? Defender’s entry aligns neatly with the brand’s push into the North American adventure-luxury space. In a market awash with soft-roaders and mall crawlers, Defender is reasserting its off-road dominance—not through nostalgia, but through action.
Who is this for—and who should skip it?
If you’re the sort who thinks adventure comes from the Apple Watch hiking app, this probably isn’t your story. But if you’re a fan of engineering validated under fire—or if you’re tired of marketing teams selling performance they’ve never tested—this is the moment to watch.
Sara Price isn’t window dressing. She’s proof that Defender is taking this seriously. And if the D7X‑R survives Dakar with a rookie team, the message is clear: these rigs aren’t just for showrooms. They’re for sandstorms, switchbacks, and the ragged edge of what’s humanly (and mechanically) possible.
What’s the long-term play?
This isn’t a one-and-done PR stunt. Defender has its sights set on the entire 2026 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC). Dakar is just the curtain-raiser. After that, Peterhansel and Baciuška will campaign the full season.
That means more development, more endurance data, and—if all goes to plan—a halo effect for the entire Defender lineup. By proving its mettle in motorsport, Defender is aiming to sell credibility where it counts: to customers who actually use their vehicles off-road, and to fans who can sniff out a poser from 1,000 dunes away.
Like what you’ve read? Stay in the driver’s seat with more insider automotive insights. Follow @NikJMiles and @TestMiles for stories that go beyond the press release.
