BAODING, China, May 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — This May, the Taklimakan Rally will host a milestone: for the first time, four international rally champions — Pau Navarro of Spain, Nicolas Cavigliasso of Argentina, Gerard Farres of Spain, and Rebecca Busi of Italy — will line up alongside China’s fastest desert racers on the same course. On May 14, GWM confirmed a twelve-driver, four-factory-team roster assembled through a personal recruitment campaign launched by Chairman Jack Wey in March.
Founded in 2005, the Taklimakan — Asia’s premier off-road event, known as the “Eastern Dakar” — earned FIA Grade A status in 2014. It runs more than 3,400 kilometers across thirteen stages in terrain that has broken some of the world’s best drivers. For years, the world’s elite competed primarily in North Africa and Europe while China’s own rally culture grew largely unseen. GWM is attempting to change that.
By May 9, the international quartet had arrived at GWM’s Baoding headquarters for a face-to-face meeting with Chairman Jack Wey — a level of personal engagement unusual at the top of a major automaker. Speaking directly to the drivers, Jack Wey offered what read less as ceremony than as commitment: “Motorsport requires no language. We hope to build deep, long-term cooperation — and we wish you excellent results in China Rally.”
Nicolas Cavigliasso of Argentina arrives as the 2025 Dakar Challenger champion, a distinction that earned him an FIA Gold license — one of the sport’s rarest honors. He will be navigated by Valentina Pertegarini. Spain’s Pau Navarro, the 2026 Dakar Challenger champion, joins with navigator Jan Rosa. Gerard Farres, a veteran of the Dakar Rally, will be paired with navigator Bruno Jacomy. Italy’s Rebecca Busi — one of the world’s most recognizable female rally drivers, with nearly 120,000 Instagram followers — completes the quartet.
Ma Hailong and two additional Chinese drivers, Zhang Jianfeng and Yao Weiqiang, complete the lineup. Yao Weiqiang is the 2025 China Rally T2.E champion in a TANK 300 Hi4-T. All three competed at the 2025 Taklimakan Rally.
“2016, we went to Dakar,” Jack Wey told the assembled drivers at Baoding. “We finished sixth — the highest any Chinese team has ever achieved.” The remark of someone who has raced at that level himself — and who is now investing personally to close the gap.
GWM’s entry is built entirely around production-basis vehicles. The TANK 700 Hi4-T leads the lineup with a 3.0T V6 powertrain and Hi4-T intelligent four-wheel drive. The TANK 500 Hi4-Z carries a dedicated all-wheel drive architecture with a 201km electric range, optimized for the most demanding desert stages. The TANK 300 Hi4-T — proven across thousands of competitive kilometers — continues to demonstrate that durability and performance do not have to trade off. Three V6 Fire Bullet 3.0T pickups complete the production category entry.
The rally begins May 16 from Urumqi, runs through the Flaming Mountains near Shanshan and the Kumtag Desert, cuts south to the edge of the Taklimakan at Korla, and finishes in Aksu sixteen days later. Thirteen stages. One event.
The world’s best are not here to pass judgment on Chinese motorsport. They are here to discover, alongside Chinese racing, what the sport looks like when the full picture finally comes together.
That answer waits at the finish line.
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