James Hillier Announces Dakar Return
Motorcycle road racer James Hillier has announced plans to return to Dakar for the 2025 edition, in what will be his second appearance
James Hillier, the motorcycle road racer and multiple TT podium finisher, has announced that he will return to the Dakar Rally in 2025.
Hillier first raced the Dakar in 2023, when he finished 76th overall despite suffering a dislocated shoulder on the fifth stage.
Hillier then competed in the Malle Moto class, which is for riders who work alone, with no mechanics or support staff to prepare the bike between stages. In 2025, though, Hillier will have the support of the WTF Racing squad.
The WTF name first appeared this year at the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT, with Hillier aboard a Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade in the Superstock and Superbike classes.
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Although the name of the team was new for this year, though, the team itself is run by Alan Gardner, who is also one of the owners and founders of OMG Racing. Since OMG became the official team of Yamaha UK in the British Superbike Championship, Gardner set up WTF so that the team could continue to compete in road racing, since WTF has no manufacturer affiliations.
That lack of affiliation has been the key for WTF’s 2025 Dakar entry with Hillier, as the team will run a KTM 450 Rally Replica, which is essentially the production version of the bike ridden at the Dakar this year by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price and Kevin Benavides.
Although Hillier rode a GasGas in 2023, that was essentially the same bike as the production KTM of that year but with GasGas branding, produced in celebration of GasGas’ victory in the 2022 Dakar with Sam Sunderland.
