The 2025 Dakar Rally didn’t go as Han Wei hoped for his new HWM T1+, which burst into flames halfway through. In the months since, his team went back to the drawing board and expanded their program.

Earlier this week, Han tested an upgraded HWM T1+ in the deserts of Inner Mongolia. Unlike the 2025 car that used a 6.2-liter Chevrolet LS3 motor, the 2026 Dakar car has a three-liter BMW S58 engine. It also features dual shock absorbers rather than the single-shock setup of its predecessor, along with an improved handling system and powertrain.

While Hanwei Motorsport partnered with Red-Lined Motorsport in 2024 and was long a customer of SMG, they have been trying to be more independent and make the cars themselves. Over the spring, HWM launched efforts to mass produce T1 machines for the Chinese market. One such vehicle is an automatic-transmission T1+ that is expected to cost roughly ¥1 million (USD$140,860).

“Don’t misunderstand this as thinking it’s unprofessional,” Han said about the automatic T1+. “It’s absolutely not just a hobby car. If you think of it that way, you’re completely wrong.

“Our automatic transmission version is suitable for racing and recreation. It has all the necessary features like air conditioning, better shock absorbers and other components such as the suspension and half-shafts. The electronics and other related parts might be slightly less refined, but it will definitely give you the joy of racing. We certainly won’t cut corners to reduce costs; that’s absurd. We still want to make it extremely powerful, and we hope to achieve this in the future.”

2025 was Han’s eighth Dakar and third in the T1+ subclass; HWM also fielded a Red-Lined REVO for Po Tian, who retired as well. At the Taklimakan Rally in May, the team built three T1+ cars for Ma Yuan (finished 12th overall), Han Jianqiang (14th), and Tianpo (19th). Han, who won the 2024 Taklimakan, exited early on.

Featured image credit: Han Wei