OMG Racing’s withdrawal from racing has had knock-on effects on WTF Racing.

James Hiller has discussed the ‘shock’ he felt when it was announced that OMG Racing and WTF Racing have both withdrawn from racing.

Hillier has ridden for Alan Gardner’s OMG Team on the roads since 2022, when he first piloted a Yamaha R1. However, since then, the road racing team has been named ‘WTF Racing’ after OMG Racing became the official Yamaha UK BSB team.

The one-time TT race winner was set to return with WTF Racing for the 2025 road racing season. This year, Hillier was set to pilot a Honda CBR1000RR-R, but the recent announcement means that he is now ride-less only weeks ahead of the season.

“My phone’s been pretty crazy since [Tuesday] afternoon when the news was released,” Hillier said in a video posted to his Instagram account.

“That was honestly a big shock, I really didn’t see that coming; it’s not great timing, especially on April Fools’ Day.

“I wished it was a joke but unfortunately it isn’t.

“I also want to say a big thank you to Alan Gardner for all the effort and time he’s put into racing; with OMG and WTF – the whole team, actually, it’s hard on everybody, so a big thank you for their efforts in the past.

“But, where I stand at the minute I don’t quite know, it’s a work in progress to try and sort some machinery and get something in place.

“We’ve not got a whole lot of time, we were supposed to be on the new bikes this coming weekend in Spain, testing, which I was really looking forward to, actually, and that’s now not happening so we have to work something out, get something in place, but I will share what I can with you when I can.

“Hopefully in the coming days we’ll have some good news, but I need to get my thinking hat on and get raising some funds, really, because that’s going to be the biggest thing: funding the operation, which certainly in today’s economic climate is not easy.”