James Hillier will campaign a Ducati 888 for the Celeres Racing squad in this year’s Classic Superbike TT with backing from Oxford Products.

The Ducati 888 - which will run in classic 1992/3 Oxford livery as used by Trevor Nation, Robert Dunlop and Mark Farmer - was built last year by Stafford Evans of Celeres Racing to compete in the 2016 Superbike F1 Classic TT race.

Wearing Ducati red, Dave Hewson rode the bike to 11th place, with a best lap of 115.769mph. Modifications were made to an original 1991 road frame and an abundance of carbon fibre parts were fitted to replicate the original machine.

Hillier will run race number 5 in 2017, the same number as Trevor Nation did 25 years ago and he will also wear replica leathers for the event.

“I have a real ambition to win the Superbike race of course, but I will also make every effort to be the fastest man around the Island on a Ducati 888,” he gushed.