Isle of Man TT star James Hillier suffers huge Dakar crash
Road racer James Hillier has crashed on the Dakar Rally, on which he is competing for the second time.
James Hillier’s second attempt at the Dakar Rally did not get off to the start he would have hoped for, as he crashed on the opening stage.
The 2025 Dakar got underway on Saturday with the 499km first stage, but it was at the 290km mark that Hillier crashed on a rock and broke his nose.
Fortunately, another rider stopped to help him, and convinced him to not continue when Hillier was quite intent on doing so even with blood streaming from his nose.
The medical staff at the Dakar ordered Hillier to sit out the 48-hour chrono stage that took place over Sunday and Monday, but the British rider will be back in action on Wednesday’s 793km Stage 3.
This his Hillier’s second time competing in the Dakar, this time doing it with the WTF Racing team on a Kove.
Hillier’s first attempt came in 2023, when he raced a GasGas RX450 in the Malle Moto class, where riders go without any kind of support crew and must complete all bike work and preparation between the stages themselves.
Both the opening stage and the 48-hour chrono were won in the bikes’ class by KTM’s Daniel Sanders, who currently holds a 12-minute lead over HRC’s Skyler Howes, with Hero’s Ross Branch in third.
2024 Dakar winner Ricky Brabec is currently fifth overall, 15 minutes off the lead, and the third of the factory Honda riders, behind Spain’s Tosha Schareina in fourth.
The cars’ class is currently led by Toyota’s Henk Lategan, with Yazeed Al-Rajhi second for Overdrive and five-time and defending Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah currently third in the second of the Hiluxes.
Nine-times World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb is sixth after the opening two stages for Dacia; while four-time Dakar winner Carlos Sainz is down in 25th, almost one-and-a-half hours off the lead following a miserable 48-hour chrono which saw him roll on the first day, then encounter navigational problems and pick up a puncture.
There are 11 days of the 2025 Dakar remaining, with the 12th and final stage taking place on 17 January.
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
