URUMQI, China, May 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The 2026 Taklimakan Rally is no sprint across the dunes. Four stages in, and GWM has already built a commanding lead across every T2 production vehicle category it entered.
SS1 through SS4, the numbers tell a consistent story. In T2.E new-energy production, Pau Navarro and Jan Rosa took the overall win in a GWM TANK 700 Hi4-T, with teammates Nicolás Cavigliasso and Valentina Pertegarini finishing second, and Gerard Farres and Bruno Jacomy in third - all three podium spots on the same model. In T2.1 fuel production, Eniriltu and Aobulege claimed the title with Nayintai and Onchinjab close behind. In T2.3 club production, Zhou Renbin and Zhang Tengzhong took the win, Huang Dongxu and Tang Shixin came in second, and Zhang Guoqiang and Lou Liyuan rounded out the podium. Across three groups, three GWM podiums, four stages, and twelve driver-navigator pairs with zero retirements.
The Taklimakan doesn't care what big words you say. Nights bring bone-chilling cold, the midday sun blazes with unrelenting intensity, and one moment of slackening means being swallowed whole by the unforgiving soft sand.
SS3 was 468 kilometers - the longest special stage the rally has seen in years. SS2 cuts through the Kumtag Desert for 293 kilometers. Engine temperatures spike fast out there, and there's almost no room for error.
GWM ran all four stages without a single mechanical retirement. That's not luck. You put a vehicle in the desert, on its own terms - this is what you get.
The GWM TANK 700 Hi4-T in T2.E competition runs on the same powertrain as the vehicle that leaves the factory - the 3.0T V6 engine, Hi4-T hybrid system, transmission and four-wheel-drive architecture are unchanged. The vehicle was prepared to T2.E homologation requirements: safety equipment was installed to regulation standard, but nothing was modified in how the engine and hybrid system deliver power to the wheels. That means every kilometer driven in the rally is a real-world test of the production platform under extreme conditions. What the desert breaks, the Hi4-T system holds.
A production SUV goes four straight stages in the Taklimakan without breaking down. That's not just a rally stat - it means something. The Hi4-T platform's torque delivery, power management, heat tolerance - they all get pushed way harder than any road car ever would. Every part that makes it through the desert has been run past its design limits in conditions most owners will never see.
That's what you actually get from motorsport-backed engineering. Not a car that's quicker on paper. One that just doesn't quit when things get ugly.
GWM ran the rally with four manufacturer teams, twelve driver-navigator pairs - Chinese and international - and a 5,000-square-meter dedicated camp outside Korla. The crew worked around the clock: cars went out, cars came back, the team prepared them for the next stage. Pau Navarro chose the GWM TANK 700 Hi4-T after testing it in Xinjiang before the rally. Gerard Farres made the same call independently. Dakar veterans do not pick a vehicle for the badge. They pick what the desert tells them works.
The rally continues. GWM leads in every category it entered.
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