Defender Dakar D7X-R
Maybe you are especially looking forward to Christmas, but many motorsport enthusiasts are already looking a little further ahead. In January it is time again for the Dakar Rally and this Defender is ready for it.
The new year always starts well for lovers of roaring engines and flying desert sand, because in January it is traditionally time for the Dakar Rally. This time it will not take place in the area where it all happened for decades and to which the rally owes its name. The 2026 edition will again be held in Saudi Arabia and this Defender will be part of it.
The car is fully called Defender Dakar D7X-R (yes, nowadays it is without Land Rover in front) and is based on the Defender Octa. The most extreme factory Defender ever is a perfect starting point for developing a Dakar car, with its no less than 635 hp powertrain. There is no talk of extra power for this Dakar adventurer, but that does not seem very necessary to us. Extra cooling is included and there is also a special filter to keep sand out of the inlet and the eight-speed automatic has different ratios to deliver a lot of traction even at low revs.
Of course we are far from done with the differences with the regular Octa. For example, the track width is 6 cm larger and the car stands higher on its wheels. Those are wheels with no less than 35 inch large off-road tires on them. The Defender D7X-R has an adapted chassis developed in collaboration with Bilstein, with double shock absorbers at the rear and coil-overs at the front, but also a new braking system. Inside, the roll cage immediately catches the eye and there are also numerous extra buttons and screens. Everything to get through the desert as quickly and safely as possible. It is up to Stéphane Peterhansel, Mika Metge, Rokas Baciuška, Oriol Vidal, Sara Price with Sean Berriman to get four of these Defenders to the finish line.