Isle of Man TT: New schedule crams five races into Thursday

Poor weather has been the bane of TT organisers this year, with much of practice week and two race days lost to it. Tuesday was meant to have the four-lap Superstock race, but heavy rain forced this to be postponed to Thursday, with the second Supersport, the Zero TT and LTW race schedule for Wednesday.

However, rain this morning led to a 90-minute delay on top of the two hours the day had been pushed back by, with the Zero and second SSP moved to Thursday along with the STK race.

The plan was to run a three-lap LTW race this evening at 1830 local time, with a Sidecar and Superbike qualifying session scheduled to follow afterwards. With poor weather expected to affect the final day of running on Friday, the second Sidecar race had been moved from its morning slot on Friday to run after the STK race on Thursday.

This in turn led to the Senior finale being brought forward to 1045 on Friday, and will be the only race run that day.

The loss of the LTW race on Wednesday now means it will be added to Thursday's schedule, making it the first five-race day in TT history. The day will begin at 1150 with a one-lap practice for the SBK and STK machines, with the second SSP race up at 1245. This will be run over two laps, reduced from four.

The second Sidecar contest, which will also be run over two laps instead of three, follows at 1350, with a two-lap STK race at 1455. The postponed LTW race, run over two laps, is up at 1830, with the one-lap Zero TT at 1920. A Senior qualifying session rounds out the day at 2000.