Isle of Man TT: Dean Harrison Sets Fastest Lap Speed in Qualifying Session
The qualifying sessions for the Isle of Man TT got underway on Friday afternoon, with Dean Harrison setting the fastest lap speed of the session. According to the BBC, Harrison sped round the 37.73-mile Mountain Course at 132.853mph on his Honda Superstock machine.
Harrison’s lap speed was the fastest of the session, but it was Peter Hickman and Davey Todd who were second and third quickest in the Superstock class for the 8TEN Racing BMW team. They recorded speeds of 132.290 and 132.195mph respectively. As the BBC reports, Todd led the Superbike times with a lap at 132.673, but that fell just short of Harrison’s quickest time of the week to date, set in Wednesday evening’s session – 133.069.
The conditions for the qualifying session were not ideal, with high winds in some sections making it challenging for the riders. However, most riders were able to up their pace from the first qualifying run on Wednesday. Hickman is now third on the Superbike leaderboard with 131.326, while Manxman Conor Cummins is fourth at 131.027. As quoted in the BBC, the performances of the riders suggest that the competition is heating up ahead of the Superbike race on Sunday.
In the Supersport class, Harrison topped the times with a flying lap of 128.093 on the Honda on which he competes regularly in the British championship. However, Michael Dunlop, who has dominated the Supersport class in recent years, was second fastest on his Ducati V2, circulating at 127.739 from a standing start. This was 2.9 seconds slower than Harrison’s lap. The BBC notes that Dunlop’s lap record for the Twins stands at 122.750 from 2018.
The Sidecar pairing of brothers Ryan and Callum Crowe dominated their class with the fastest lap ever recorded in qualifying by any crew. Their lap of 120.202 was just outside their personal best and only five seconds in arrears of the lap record of 120.645 set by Ben and Tom Birchall in 2023. However, the qualifying session was not without incident, as Peter Hickman crashed at Kerrowmoar and was taken to Noble’s Hospital by Airmed. According to the BBC, Hickman was "conscious and stable" after the crash.
The qualifying sessions are scheduled to continue on Saturday, before a scheduled six-lap Superbike race on Sunday. However, due to the red flags and incoming rain that halted the session on Friday evening, Supersport race one and sidecar race one, which were to be staged on Saturday, have now been rescheduled for Monday. As the BBC reports, the riders will be looking to fine-tune their performances ahead of the main events.
The BBC will continue to provide extensive coverage of the Isle of Man TT. With Dean Harrison setting the fastest lap speed in the qualifying session, it is clear that the competition is fierce. Will Harrison be able to maintain his pace in the upcoming races? The BBC will be keeping a close eye on the performances of all the riders as the Isle of Man TT continues.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/articles/cwy31l08g1zo
