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AMERICAN SARA PRICE READY TO COMPETE WITH DEFENDER RALLY IN PORTUGAL TO BUILD ON HISTORIC TEAM DEBUT AT DAKAR
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AMERICAN SARA PRICE READY TO COMPETE WITH DEFENDER RALLY IN PORTUGAL TO BUILD ON HISTORIC TEAM DEBUT AT DAKAR

4 March 2026

Following the historic Dakar 2026 victory in the Stock class, Defender Rally will continue its FIA World Rally‑Raid Championship (W2RC) campaign in the bp Ultimate Rally‑Raid Portugal, 17‑22 March

  • Following the historic Dakar 2026 victory in the Stock class, Defender Rally will continue its FIA World Rally‑Raid Championship (W2RC) campaign in the bp Ultimate Rally‑Raid Portugal, 17‑22 March
  • Winners of the Dakar Rally 2026 Stock class, the Defender Rally crew of Rokas Baciuška and Oriol Vidal will head to Portugal aiming to defend their lead in the W2RC
  • American Sara Price, who finished second with Defender Rally at Dakar 2026, will compete again for the team in Portugal alongside navigator and fellow American Sean Berriman
  • Completing the Defender Rally line‑up for Portugal is ‘Mr. Dakar’ Stéphane Peterhansel with co‑driver Mika Metge
  • All three crews, who between them took victory in all 13 stages of the 2026 Dakar, compete in the Defender Dakar D7X‑R vehicle, which is derived from the production Defender OCTA

Mahwah, NJ – Wednesday, March 4, 2026: Defender Rally will return to FIA World Rally‑Raid Championship (W2RC) action in the bp Ultimate Rally‑Raid Portugal on March 17. Following its Dakar Rally success, the Defender crews of Rokas Baciuška/Oriol Vidal, Sara Price/Sean Berriman and Stéphane Peterhansel/Mika Metge will return to competition in Portugal in the Defender Dakar D7X‑R vehicle.

In the teams’ debut at the 2026 Dakar Rally, drivers Rokas Baciuška and Oriol Vidal won the Stock class in the Defender Dakar D7X‑R vehicle, with Sara/Sean finishing in second place. The trio of Defender Rally crews achieved a ‘1‑2‑3’ result across 10 of the 13 Dakar stages. Now, it’s onto the bp Ultimate Rally‑Raid Portugal to build on that success.

Rokas currently leads the W2RC Stock class driver standings, followed by Sara and Stéphane in second and third place with 107, 87 and 69 points respectively. Oriol, Sean and Mika are also respectively in first, second and third places in the navigators’ standings. 

American, Sara Price, who made her ‘works’ team debut with Defender Rally in the 2026 Dakar, currently sits in second place in the overall W2RC rankings for Stock. With 4 stage wins in Dakar, Price is looking to take that momentum into Portugal where she will be pushing hard for further success. Price will again race alongside co‑driver Sean Berriman, ensuring Defender Rally’s Dakar line‑up of world‑class drivers and co‑drivers remains consistent. 

There’s no doubt that Portugal poses an entirely different challenge to Dakar. With tighter, more technical stages, consistency and precision are key. Reliability is everything, especially in Stock, and Dakar showed that the Defender Dakar D7X‑R vehicle is extremely competitive. The aim is to build on that Dakar momentum as we focus on the W2RC that lays ahead. Following her stellar performance at Dakar, we’re keen to see Sara put her learnings into action on European soil and we’re thrilled to have our three‑driver line‑up representing the team.

Ian James
Team Principal, Defender Rally

For 2026, event organizer Automóvel Club de Portugal (ACP) has reshaped the bp Ultimate Rally‑Raid route. Grandola remains as the start, followed by Badajoz in Spain’s Extremedura region, but Loulé in the Algarve is this year’s finish‑line spot. The rally consists of five stages and covers 2,175km (1352 miles) in total, including 1,320km (820 miles) of timed sections. The ACP has said this year’s route has been redesigned to reach the Atlantic, promising more varied terrain than in 2024 and 2025 and a technical challenge for the teams competing. Compared to the season’s opening round in Saudi Arabia, Portugal consists of much narrower stages and demands higher average speeds. In spring weather is also uncertain in the region, often with heavy rainfall for drivers to contend with.

Dakar was an amazing experience and I’m so proud of the results the team achieved and the resilience we showed throughout. I’m looking forward to Portugal; we really want to build on that momentum. We know our strengths and we know where we can improve, and we’re determined to push to the finish again. I can’t wait to be back behind the wheel with my teammates!

Sara Price
Defender Rally driver

Derived from the Defender OCTA, the Defender Dakar D7X‑R vehicle maintains the robust D7x body architecture, transmission and driveline layout of the production car, but has been built to the new FIA Stock class regulations for the W2RC. For rally‑raid, Defender Rally has carried out a range of developments to ensure the D7X‑R is ready to take on the extreme challenge provided by the championship – a wider track, increased ride height to tackle rocky terrain, and new suspension are key adaptations. 

With the support of partners Castrol, Bilstein, YETI and Bell & Ross, and suppliers Shackleton and Alpinestars, the Defender Rally team will complete a pre‑rally test program in Portugal ahead of the five days of competition from March 17‑22.

ENDS 

Further information

Joe Stauble

PR Manager JLR North America

jstauble@jaguarlandrover.com

 

Jeff Ehoodin

Land Rover Senior PR Specialist

jehoodin@jaguarlandrover.com

 

Media website: https://media.landrover.com/en‑us

 

Social Channels: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@defender  

Instagram: http://instagram.com/Defender 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@defender    

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Defender     

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Defender    

Notes to Editors

Rokas Baciuška, Defender Rally driver, said: “Dakar was an amazing debut for us and for the whole Defender Rally team, and we aim to take the same consistency we showed there into the Portugal race. At Dakar, our priority was to look after the car and bring it to the finish – in Portugal, the terrain is much rockier and the course is narrower, but we’re focused on doing the same and maintaining our position in the W2RC lead.”

Stéphane Peterhansel, Defender Rally driver, said: “It’s amazing to return to Portugal for round two of the W2RC, this time for Defender Rally’s European debut. It is a technical race for sure, but we’re well‑equipped to tackle the course. At Dakar, we took it steadily and encountered some difficult challenges, but we’re back and ready to showcase the D7X‑R’s incredible capability once again.”

About the Defender brand

The Defender brand embraces the impossible. Each member of the Defender vehicle 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.

The tough luxury Defender OCTA is the master of 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. 

The Defender vehicle 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.

Defender Rally

The Defender brand 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, the partnership set to continue in 2026, 2027 and 2028. From 2026, Defender will also compete in the FIA World Rally‑Raid Championship (W2RC), entering the ‘Stock’ category – this being the first of a three‑year program.

The Defender brand’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, purpose‑engineered D7x body architecture as the Defender, based on a lightweight aluminum monocoque construction to create a stiff body structure, in addition to featuring the 4.4‑litre twin turbo V8 engine from Defender OCTA to provide exceptional drivability.

While the Defender brand did not compete in Dakar until 2026, it played a key role at the 2025 rally as the event’s official vehicle partner. A fleet of 20 Defender vehicles supported the event, which began in Bisha, Saudi Arabia, and ended in Shubaytah, transporting race officials and VIP media. A further six highly specialized Defender recce vehicles will be used by Dakar Rally organizers to plan the routes for the 2026, 2027, and 2028 events.

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.

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