![\"DEFENDER](\"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/land-rover-gears-up-for-dakar-defender-prototype-takes-on-moroccan-sands.jpg\" "\\"DEFENDER")
<\/a><\/p>\nBrand calls start of testing in Morocco “a significant milestone”<\/p>\n
Jaguar<\/a> Land Rover<\/a> has begun testing its Defender<\/a> Dakar D7X-R prototype ahead of entering the 2026 World Rally-Raid Championship, including the Dakar Rally.<\/p>\n Official pictures have been shown of the mule smashing through the sand in Morocco, which, the British marque says, will mirror the \u201cextreme desert conditions\u201d that await\u00a0the team in the 2026 series.<\/p>\n The car will compete in the Stock category for production-based vehicles. Although purpose-built for the series, it uses the same D7x aluminium monocoque chassis (hence its D7X-R name), transmission and driveline layout as the standard car. Kit such as suspension, bodywork and more are very much expected to be bespoke. JLR said further details will be revealed later this year.<\/p>\n JLR has also announced 14-time Dakar winner St\u00e9phane Peterhansel and Rokas Baciu\u0161ka as its first two drivers.<\/p>\n \u201cCompleting our first official test is a huge milestone and kicks off a busy calendar of testing activity on our journey to Dakar,\u201d said JLR motorsport boss James Barclay. \u201cThe team are doing phenomenal work as we prepare for the world\u2019s most challenging off-road race in just eight months\u2019 time.\u201d<\/p>\n The British marque will operate as a works team for the off-road endurance event, using the Defender\u2019s \u201cextreme durability and capability in the most demanding motorsport competition on earth\u201d, it said.<\/p>\n Further details of its entry in the \u201cEverest of motorsport\u201d will be revealed next year, said Barclay, who added: \u201cOur first time ever with a factory entry into the Dakar means we are right at the beginning of our journey. We are conscious of how much we have to learn and achieve before taking the start in 2026, but we are already well under way and looking forward to the adventure,\u201d<\/p>\n The brand is now an official sponsor of the competition until 2028, which means it will provide a fleet of Defender support vehicles\u00a0specially engineered for the race.<\/p>\n Mark Cameron, Defender brand boss, said: \u201cAdventure is in the very DNA of the Defender brand, so we are inspired to partner with Dakar \u2013 the ultimate motorsport adventure \u2013 where competitors truly embrace the impossible.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63039,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/land-rover-gears-up-for-dakar-defender-prototype-takes-on-moroccan-sands-1.jpg\")
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