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.
It’s being entered into the ‘Stock’ class, which is seeing big regulation changes for next year to focus more strictly on how durable a production car is right out of the manufacturing plant. The ideal test for what Land Rover calls its “most dynamically accomplished Defender ever,” then.
Land Rover has already confirmed the competition cars will utilize the same basic ‘D7X’ architecture, which comprises a lightweight aluminum shell that’s said to be three times stronger than a traditional body-on-frame design.
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The OCTA also sits 28mm higher than a standard Defender, aided by a fancy adaptive suspension that has a system of cross-linked hydraulic dampers incorporated to eliminate as much pitch, dive, and roll as possible.
Further good news for the OCTA’s rally aspirations are those 33-inch tires—the largest ever fitted to a Defender. The redesigned bumpers also mean even greater approach and departure angles than standard.
No word on whether Land Rover plans to modify the 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8, but given it already produces 626hp and accelerates to 100kph in under 4sec, it’s unlikely. More so because the OCTA will have no trouble hitting such speeds as easily on tarmac as it will on a thick layer of crushed moon rock, and Nokia 3310 fragments.
Do you think this spruced-up Defender has what it takes to win the W2RC?
More photos of the Land Rover Defender Octa:
NOTE: This story first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
