Remember when Land Rover unleashed the Defender OCTA last year? Billed as the most powerful version of the Defender yet, this go-anywhere SUV comes with a 4.4L twin-turbo V8 that pushes 635 PS and 750 Nm of torque. It can go from 0 – 100 km/h in 4 seconds thanks to peak torque being readily available at 1,800 rpm.

All in all, the Defender OCTA has one heck of a hardware. But Land Rover wants to prove that their latest beast can take on the road less traveled. After announcing they will be joining the 2026 edition of the Dakar rally, Land Rover announced that the Defender OCTA will form the basis of the Defender's Dakar and FIA World Rally Raid Championship.

That's right, the twin-turbo V8-powered Defender OCTA will be joining the Dakar Rally next year and will compete in the Stock category for production-based vehicles. The Defender will run a two-day entry of competition-spec Defenders across the full five rounds of the FIA World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC). There will also be a three-vehicle entry in the championship's halo event, the Dakar Rally 2026.

New regulations aimed at making the ‘Stock’ category significantly more competitive will be implemented by 2026, as the FIA and Dakar organizers respond to the growing popularity of high-performance 4x4s and SUVs.

“Taking on the most demanding rally-raid event in the world represents the ultimate test of our most extreme Defender to date. We know that Dakar will be an immense challenge, but Defender OCTA combines huge performance with characteristic Defender capability and durability – the perfect foundations for what I’m confident will be a highly competitive rally-raid vehicle,” said Mark Cameron, Defender Managing Director.

For now, the company is already conducting an exhaustive competition test and development program before competing at next year's rally. It will ultimately culminate in test events and a full team launch later this year ahead of Dakar and the FIA World Rally Raid Championship in 2026.

“Defender competing in Dakar will be an incredibly exciting challenge. We had a vision for the future of production-based vehicles in rally-raid so it has been incredibly positive to align with the ASO, FIA, and other manufacturers and work collaboratively to create the new regulations for the ‘Stock’ category. We now have the right platform to authentically demonstrate Defender’s capability in the biggest challenge in off-road motorsport. Ahead of us is a year of detailed preparation, testing, and learning to be ready for Dakar 2026. The team are already well underway and we are very much looking forward to competing in both Dakar and W2RC – the world’s toughest off-road events,” shared James Barclay, JLR Motorsport Managing Director.

Aside from competing at next year's Dakar Rally, the 635 PS Defender OCTA is set to be launched later this year in the Philippines.