PROLOGUE – MEDIA ADVISORY

2026 DAKAR RALLY, 03 JANUARY

Defender Rally’s debut at the 2026 Dakar Rally is off to a positive start with the Defender Dakar D7X-Rs taking the top three Stock category positions in today’s Prologue, from seven Stock starters.

Sara Price, in car #504 with co-driver Sean Berriman, took the top spot with a time of 12.03.09 for the 22km special stage, swiftly followed by teammates Stéphane Peterhansel and Rokas Baciuška, just four and five seconds behind respectively.

The next quickest car after the three Defender Dakar D7X-Rs in the Stock class was the Toyota Land Cruiser of Akira Mirua, 58-seconds behind Sara.

Sara Price, Defender Rally driver, said: “I’m super happy with the result, I did not expect to do that well! I was very nervous today but wanted to do well. This is a great way to start off Dakar 2026. But this is only the beginning. You can lose a lot in the Prologue but you can’t win it. This is the first step to having a good start position to hopefully have a strong day tomorrow.”

Stéphane Peterhansel, Defender Rally driver, said: “It was a great feeling to be back to feel the atmosphere of the Dakar. It feels a bit like family here so it’s really nice to be at the start again. Today was a small Prologue, but we have finally entered the race. We started the project with Defender one year ago with lots of work to do developing the car, and now we’re here at Prologue. It’s a really good feeling.”

Rokas Baciuška, Defender Rally driver, said: “It’s nice to be back at Dakar with Defender. We did a great job as a team with a one-two-three result, but now we have a long way to go and we need to take care of the car. I’m very happy to be here with a happy team. I hope we can, day-by-day, cross the finish line, and then celebrate.”  

Ian James, Team Principal of Defender Rally, said: “Defender’s debut at Dakar has gotten off to an strong start. Each of our drivers have finished the Prologue feeling calm, composed and confident ahead of tomorrow’s first full timed stage. We don’t underestimate the challenge that now lies ahead, but we are determined to take it on and we’ll push to remain at the top.”

Stage 1 takes place on Sunday 4 January 2026 with a 305km timed stage, and an additional 213km road liaison.