The Dakar Rally’s Stock category has been a Land Cruiser party for the past decade, and that will remain the case in 2025 as Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body’s two entries are the lone faces in the class. Come 2026, however, they will finally have some competition.

In late November, Land Rover unveiled plans to back a Defender factory team starting 2026. Prior to that, the Defender will be the official car partner of the Dakar Rally, for which a support and reconnaissance vehicles will be provided to race officials and VIP from 2025 to 2028.

The Defender will compete in the Stock class, which was not immediately revealed by Land Rover but subsequently confirmed by figures like Dakar Rally director David Castera. In an interview with Dakarianos, Castera opined the class will be “very strong” in 2026 with Land Rover’s arrival.

His confidence stems from the FIA updating its Stock (T2) regulations for the 2025 season to encourage manufacturer participation. While a class intended for production vehicles might sound easy to enter on paper, the conversion process from streets to race spec is difficult and costly. Toyota Auto Body, as a works team of Toyota Motor Corporation, is able to afford the expenses compared to others who do not have the same luxury.

To lower costs, T2 cars will be capped between €300,000 to €350,000 with €500,000 at most. Since the regulations were only published recently, there is not enough time for new Stock teams to develop their cars for 2025 so Castera expects them to show up the year after.

Castera also suggested Ford and Nissan might be interested in entering the class, though “we don’t know at the moment.”

The 2026 Dakar will not be Land Rover’s first foray into cross-country rally. The manufacturer oversees the Defender Rally Series, which collaborated with the Carta Rallye and Baja Morocco this year. Prodrive, responsible for the new Dacia Sandrider, has also developed a short-wheelbase Defender.

In the meantime, the 2025 Dakar’s Stock category will be a duel of Toyota Land Cruiser 300 GR Sports as Akira Miura looks to defend his win against teammate Ronald Basso. Toyota Auto Body has won the class at Dakar every year since 2014. Ibrahim Almuhna’s Nissan Patrol finished third behind the Land Cruisers at the 2024 Dakar, but he elected to switch to a Can-Am Maverick in SSV for 2025.

Besides the aforementioned cars for rally personnel, Land Rover will still have some representation in the adjacent Dakar Classic. Maxence Gublin and Anthony Sousa are racing a Land Rover Defender 110, while Karolis Raišys and Ignas Daunoravičius are entered in a 1978 Land Rover 109 Series III.

Featured image credit: FOTOP / ASO