1’ Best Rookie’ is awarded to the top‑performing new‑comer of that season/ event. This is typically the driver who shows consistency and impressive skills in their debut
* Peterhansel/Metge, Baciuška/Vidal and Price/Berriman will all race in the 2026 Dakar Rally in Defender Dakar D7X‑R. Peterhansel/Metge and Baciuška/Vidal will also compete in the additional four rounds of the 2026 W2RC.
Additional co‑driver quotes:
Mika Metge, Co‑driver to Stéphane Peterhansel, said: “Driving alongside Stéphane as part of the highly‑anticipated Defender Rally team is a true career highlight. An icon like Defender joining the FIA World Rally‑Raid Championship is a monumental moment for off‑road racing and I can’t wait to return to Dakar Rally and make my mark. There’s nobody better to race with than the Dakar legend himself!”
Sean Berriman, Co‑driver to Sara Price, said: “It’s a privilege to be competing at Dakar 2026 and to tackle the dunes again with my 2025 driver Sara Price. I’m proud to be representing such an iconic, unstoppable brand in its first Dakar entry, too. Defender’s ethos of embracing the impossible will help push us to maximise on the successes we achieved in 2025’s SSV category. The Stock category better be ready.”
About Defender
Defender embraces the impossible. Each member of the Defender family is purposefully designed, highly desirable and seriously durable. A modern‑day hero that respects the past but at the same time anticipates the future.
Available in 90, 110 and 130 body styles, with up to eight seats, each has a charisma of its own.
As part of our vision of modern luxury by design, Defender 110 is available as an electric hybrid.
Defender Hard Top means business, with 90 and 110 body styles for professional capability.
The tough luxury Defender OCTA is the master of extreme performance – taking performance and capability to another level on and off‑road.
A beacon of liberty that can trace its roots back to the first Land Rover in 1948, Defender is a brand that supports humanitarian and conservation work with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the Tusk Trust.
The Defender brand is underpinned by Land Rover – a mark of trust built on more than 75 years of expertise in technology and world‑leading off‑road capability.
Defender is designed and engineered in the UK and sold in 121 countries. It belongs to the JLR house of brands alongside Range Rover, Discovery and Jaguar.
About Defender Rally
Defender embraces the impossible, and Defender Rally embodies this to the extreme, demonstrating the ultimate capability, reliability and endurance in the most challenging of environments.
In 2025, Defender became the official car partner of the Dakar Rally. In 2026, Defender will also compete in the FIA World RallyRaid Championship (W2RC), entering the ‘Stock’ category.
Defender’s capability is designed to take on the most challenging of conditions, with Dakar Rally being the ultimate test. The competition car retains the same tough, purposeengineered D7x body architecture as the Defender, based on a lightweight aluminium monocoque construction to create a stiff body structure, in addition to featuring the 4.4litre twin turbo V8 engine from Defender OCTA to provide exceptional driveability.
While Defender will not compete in Dakar until 2026, it played a key role at the 2025 rally as the event’s official vehicle partner in the first of a fouryear agreement. A fleet of 20 Defenders supported the event, which began in Bisha, Saudi Arabia, and ended in Shubaytah, transporting race officials and VIP media. A further six highly specialised Defender recce vehicles will be used by Dakar Rally organisers to plan the routes for the 2026, 2027 and 2028 events.
About Alpinestars
Alpinestars, the world’s premier motorsports performance protection manufacturer, has been racing at the highest levels of motorsports for nearly 60 years. Partnering with the world’s best drivers and teams in championships from Formula 1, Formula E, WEC and NASCAR to W2RC and Dakar, the company is committed to delivering the highest level of technically advanced driver and team products that offer the ultimate in performance, protection, and breathability, to the racing world’s top athletes.
One Goal. One Vision.
Important notice
JLR is constantly seeking ways to improve the specification, design and production of its vehicles, parts and accessories and alterations take place continually. Whilst every effort is made to produce up‑to‑date literature, this document should not be regarded as an infallible guide to current specifications or availability, nor does it constitute an offer for the sale of any particular vehicle, part or accessory. All figures are manufacturer’s estimates.