“It’s definitely going to be different next year.” Tim Gajser anticipates biggest career switch yet after HRC swansong at the 2025 MXoN
Honda’s greatest motocross title winner, completed his last race for HRC at the MXoN and while his 2026 Yamaha deal is still official the Slovenian did talk of his ‘red’ exit at Ironman Raceway.
By Adam Wheeler. Photos by Ray Archer.
Tim Gajser could not defeat brandmates Hunter and Jett Lawrence for a second year in a row at the Motocross of Nations this month but the decorated MXGP racer at least gave Honda a farewell top three with 3rd place in the MXGP class in Indiana.
Gajser, along with Jeffrey Herlings, is set to embark on two of the biggest team and manufacturer changes in modern MXGP history. The 29-year-old, who first represented the Japanese in 2014 and from the confines of Giacomo Gariboldi’s team in MX2, killed the engine on an -eleven season association with the factory in the USA, and a union that delivered five titles and over 50 Grand Prix victories (putting him 5th on the all-time list). Gajser famously won the premier class division in his first term with the CRF450R in 2016, which was also Honda’s first success in the blue ribband competition since 2000.
2025 started positively for #243 with five consecutive podium finishes, including three wins, but then he controversially hit a partially concealed marshal’s mound at Frauenfeld for round six of the series and sustained a displaced right shoulder. He missed nine Grands Prix after surgery and returned to grasp one more trophy with a runner-up classification at the penultimate round in China.
“I had a really comfortable lead, over 50 points, but then the crash happened in Switzerland,” he explains. “I gave my best to come back as soon as possible but when I tried in Agueda [Portugal, round seven] it was too damaged. Surgery…and then it [recovery] took way-longer than expected. Without that crash I felt like [2025] was my season…but this is the sport sometimes.”
At Ironman Gajser still wasn’t quite back to total fitness. “I still don’t have full mobility of the shoulder, but we are working on it and it will be 100% for next year,” he said in the paddock in Indiana. “In the last two GPs the speed was there, and Ironman was another step in the right direction. I can go motivated into the off-season: many changes! I’m looking forward and I’m excited.”
During his recovery this summer, Gajser had been negotiating another new deal with Honda but the company had their head-turned by the prospect of Jeffrey Herlings, and enticed double MX2 world champ and AMA 250SX #1 Tom Vialle back to Europe. Gajser, allegedly, found a willing new employer with Yamaha.
“Strange that it was my last race on a red bike,” he said on Sunday at the MXoN. “I have been with Honda since the end of 2013, twelve years is a long time! It’s definitely going to be different next year but sometimes a fresh beginning is also good. I am always super-motivated – motivation is never my problem – but it gives me something extra: to go on a new bike, do the testing, see how it feels. It will be good!”
Yamaha have yet to confirm Gajser’s deal, and the identity of his teammates. Honda meanwhile are also in a contractual bind with KTM to announce Vialle and Herlings, although Vialle should be declared prior to his debut appearance at the 2025 Paris Supercross in mid-November. Ruben Fernandez – the third CFR450R racer for 2026 and on the pre-production model of the latest generation of the bike – should be announced as part of the overall team roster.