After being a factory rider for Hero MotoSports since 2021, Franco Caimi is now a free agent. On Friday, Hero confirmed Caimi’s departure via a social media video bidding him farewell.
“Once a Hero, always a Hero,” begins the video’s description. “We’ve enjoyed every moment with you, @francocaimi! Wishing you the best, always.”
Caimi joined Hero in April 2021 after mainly competing with Yamaha, making his début at the Andalucía Rally. He raced the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Cup with the team and notched an overall bike podium in the second race at the Silk Way Rally. However, his first Dakar Rally with the team—which would have been his sixth attempt at the race—would not come until 2023 after breaking his arm in a crash while preparing for the 2022 edition. After missing the latter, he ran the rest of the World Rally-Raid Championship (successor to the Cross-Country Rallies World Cup) schedule with a best RallyGP overall finish of eighth at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
In what would be his lone Dakar for Hero, Caimi overcame a slow start and Stage #12 crash, the latter resulting in knee pain after he missed a large drop, to place tenth in the RallyGP general classification. His strongest daily performance was eighth in Stages #10 and #11. The tenth continues his streak of scoring top tens in each Dakar that he finished, with his best being eighths in his début in 2017 and 2020.
“I wanted to let you know that this season with @heromotosports we have decided to take different paths,” posted Caimi. “I am proud about the goals we could reach together, making history for the brand with the first Podium finish in a World Championship race (Rusia 2021) and with the last top10 finish in @dakarrally. Thx to every member of the team and each one of you standing by my side.”
Caimi did not take part in the next W2RC leg in Abu Dhabi. After fielding four bikes at Dakar, Hero had two for Ross Branch and Sebastian Bühler at the ADDC; the former finished fifth overall while the latter did not reach the end. Joaquim Rodrigues, the fourth Hero rider, broke his femur after crashing in the opener.
The team did not announce a replacement for Caimi. His younger brother Stéfano Caimi competed at Dakar on a KTM bike in the Rally2 category.
Hero MotoSports is the first Indian bike manufacturer to win a stage at the Dakar Rally with Rodrigues winning once in 2022 while Branch claimed two in 2023.
