Six stages of the 2026 Dakar Rally are complete, with Defender Rally drivers taking the win on every stage to date in the Defender Dakar D7X-R.
Defender Rally has successfully reached the halfway point of the 2026 Dakar Rally in its debut entry to the world’s most extreme rally-raid, having won all six stages in the Stock class to date. A skilled trio of drivers and co-drivers, made up of Dakar-legend Stéphane Peterhansel and Mika Metge; Rokas Baciuška and Oriol Vidal and Sara Price with Sean Berriman, have each achieved two stage wins in the Stock class for production-based cars. Today’s sixth Stage was the longest of the Dakar Rally with a mammoth 920km (combined timed and liaison sections). American duo Sara Price and Sean Berriman took the win today, overcoming challenging sand dunes, with a time of 04:32:10. Close behind were by Rokas Baciuška and Oriol Vidal (04:34:49), followed by Stéphane Peterhansel and Mika Metge (04:35:00).
At halfway, Lithuanian Rokas Baciuška and Spain’s Oriol Vidal remain at the top of the Stock class rankings with an overall time of 29 hours, 12 minutes and 58 seconds. French duo Stéphane Peterhansel and Mika Metge are in second position, with Sara Price and Sean Berriman in fourth. The drivers compete in the Defender Dakar D7X-R, which is derived from a production Defender OCTA and is built to compete in the ‘Stock’ category of the World Rally-Raid Championship. The rally challenger retains Defender OCTA’s tough D7x body architecture, transmission, driveline and 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 engine, whilst modifications for competition include a wider track, increased ride height, new suspension and enhanced cooling. Throughout the overall 5,000km two-week endeavour, Defender Rally is supported by official partners: Castrol, YETI, Bilstein, Bell & Ross, Fortnite, and suppliers Shackleton and Alpinestars. Whilst the drivers traverse sand dunes and rocky tracks, a Defender partnership with Epic Games allows gamers globally to digitally drive the Defender Dakar D7X-R, complete with matching livery, on Fortnite and Rocket League.
Defender Rally Leads Stock Class at Dakar Midpoint
Jack Lambert, Head of Technical Integration, Defender Rally, said: “What an adventure it’s been so far, and we’re only halfway through. The entire team is working round the clock to ensure our cars, the Defender Dakar D7X-Rs, are performing to the best of their ability. And on top of that, we have three world-class crews that are expertly making their way through some of the most challenging terrain in the Saudi Arabian landscape. To be leading the Stock class rankings at the halfway point is an incredible achievement for the whole team, but we are acutely aware that there is still a very long way to go. The team remain motivated and focused on getting all three cars and crews through to the end, consistency will be key to bringing home all three Defender Dakar D7X-Rs and their crews.”
Sara Price, Defender Rally driver, said:“Today was awesome to be in the dunes in the Defender for the first time. I haven’t had that chance yet, so today was kind of an unknown for me going into it. But I love the dunes, I grew up in the dunes, so it’s something I’ve done for fun with my family. The Defender impressed me; I’m blown away with how well it did and I had a lot of fun today. We ended up with the win so that was exciting.”
Maintains Lead After Challenging Dune Stage
Rokas Baciuška, Defender Rally driver, said:“Overall it was a long day, we were up at 6am and we arrived back to the bivouac late in the evening. Today was totally sandy and there were a lot of dunes, we climbed really well. So far so well, and we are still leading, we just need to keep like this and see if we can do it.”
Stéphane Peterhansel, Defender Rally driver, said:“First of all, we’ve now experienced all different kinds of track. So now the last thing we’ve been on is the dunes and the car was really perfect on the dunes, so this is really good news. It was not easy because it was 200km of just dunes, especially some that were very tricky, broken and bumpy, but the big dunes were super nice to do with such a good engine. We managed from the morning until the end of the stage to not get stuck. The target was to bring the car to the end of the stage.”
Seven stages now remain in the 2026 Dakar Rally.
