The twin-turbocharged off-roader is headed for Dakar and the FIA World Rally Raid Championship starting in 2026.

2026 is going to be a busy year for the Land Rover Defender OCTA because the British carmaker has just confirmed its entry into the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC), beginning with the Dakar Rally in January. Talk about tough initiations.

With 626 hp, the Octa is the most powerful Defender ever, but it is also the most capable. To understand the auto industry, always follow the money. When the current Land Rover Defender launched for 2020 it was targeting those in search of rugged,

The Defender is the best-selling member of the JLR family, and the one that has been steadily gaining in popularity for the past five years—a rare occurrence in the auto industry, where models normally lose ground as they age.

What’s this? The Land Rover Defender Octa’s mission statement is simple: to be the world’s fastest off-roader. But how do you define that? A Nürburgring lap time is only going to tell part of the story,

Land Rover had shown the Discovery SVX in Frankfurt exactly two years earlier: a 525hp V8-powered, hydraulically-restrained vision of what the family-friendly SUV could be if you jettisoned some of the friendliness and fitted proper all-terrain tyres.

This remains largely familiar from the core Defender, and that’s a very good thing. This is still a fantastic SUV interior; chunky and industrial in its design but rendered luxurious by the hushed refinement, strong fit and finish and high-quality materials.

A couple of months after Land Rover confirmed that the Defender would compete in the 2026 Dakar Rally, the automaker has revealed the racing model will be based on the flagship Defender Octa. It will compete in the Dakar’s ‘Stock’ racing category as part of a slew of heavily-revised regulations.

Jaguar Land Rover confirmed that an electric Defender is in the works. However, as the EV model requires “a significant step in the evolution of the Defender,” it may take some time before we see it hit the roads.