With two World Rally-Raid Championships and a Dakar Rally win under his belt, Nicolás Cavigliasso is finally getting to drive something that isn’t a Challenger car. In May, he will compete in the Taklimakan Rally for the first time with Great Wall Motor.

“Great Wall Motorsport is innovating in the world of rally raid with great ambition and technology,” he said on Monday. “We are looking forward to joining them and exploring new challenges together. The team will be running the Taklimakan Rally in China, a great challenge.”

Cavigliasso has won back-to-back titles in the W2RC’s Challenger class. The 2025 season began with him winning the Dakar before edging out Pau Navarro for the title. Incidentally, Navarro won this year’s Dakar in Challenger and will be one of Cavigliasso’s GWM teammates for Taklimakan.

Racing for his own outfit Vertical Motor Sport Team, Cavigliasso finished the 2026 Dakar third in class. He ran top two before a punctured radiator cost him a shot at the overall.

After Dakar, he skipped the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal as he focused on refining his partnership with GWM. Although not competing, Cavigliasso still appeared at the race to promote Maxxis.

Besides Cavigliasso and Navarro, GWM has also recruited Gerard Farrés for Taklimakan. The Chinese manufacturer reopened its rally division in 2025, fielding 11 cars in T2 at that year’s Taklimakan Rally.

Featured image credit: Antonin Vincent / DPPI / ASO