Isle of Man TT: Hickman fastest as practice week concludes

After a two-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the TT roared back into life last Sunday with the first official practice session since May 2019.

Padgetts Racing rider Davey Todd set the pace on the opening night on his Honda Superbike with a 127.492mph from 2019 Senior TT race winner Dean Harrison and 23-time TT winner John McGuinness on the official Honda.

In the second Superbike practice on the Monday, five-time TT winner and outright lap record holder Peter Hickman guided his Gas Monkey Garage-backed FHO BMW M1000RR to the first 130mph laps of the week.

Harrison moved the pace on further on night three on his DAO Racing Kawasaki with a 131.767mph lap, before Hickman smashed into the 133mph barrier with a 133.22mph effort on Thursday evening.

The final day of practice on Friday was due to get underway at 1:20pm local time, but rain forced the postponement of running back to 6:20pm.

A further seven-minute delayed followed before the Supersport and Supertwin machines were sent out in a revision to the original running order.

Michael Dunlop topped the session with a 125.040mph on his MD Racing Honda, though this was slower than the 19-time TT winner’s best in the class on Thursday at 126.662mph.

Michael Dunlop, MD Racing

Photo by: Dave Kneen

Dunlop was also fastest in the Supertwins class, setting a 120.303mph lap on his Patton, but Hickman held the best lap on his Aprilia from Thursday with a 120.994mph.

There was drama early in the session when Todd’s Padgetts Honda expired up at the Mountain Mile, with the Englishman forced to borrow a marshal’s enduro bike to get back to the paddock at Douglas.

Due to damp patches at sections of the 37.75-mile circuit from the earlier rain, nobody toppled the best times in each solo class.

Hickman led the Superbike times with a 132.876mph on his second lap on the new M1000RR having made a set-up tweak to his package and leads the class overall after his Thursday effort.

Dunlop set the best Superstock lap of Friday with a 129.29mph on his MD Racing Honda, but Hickman topped the class outright for the week with a 129.91mph.

Hickman elected against doing any laps on his Superstock bike ahead of Saturday’s opening Superbike race during Friday’s running, while Harrison split his time between his Kawasaki Superbike and Superstock machine.

John McGuinness, Honda Racing UK

Photo by: Dave Kneen

TT legend McGuinness will make his 100th race start on Saturday aboard his Honda Superbike, and ends practice week inside the top eight overall with a best of 129.278mph.

Team-mate and TT rookie Glenn Irwin had an impressive final evening on his Honda Superbike having encountered technical issues with it on Thursday.

The British Superbike frontrunner managed a 128.28mph lap, which is just under 1mph shy of the fastest-ever newcome lap set by Hickman in 2014, ahead of his TT race debut on Saturday.

The Sidecars headed out for their final session of practice week after the solo running had finished, with 10-time TT winners Ben and his passenger Tom Birchall setting the best pace of the week with a 117.516mph lap.

Practice week was marred by the tragic death of 29-year-old Welsh racer Mark Purslow, who tragically died after a crash on Tuesday evening at the Ballagarey section of track.