Isle of Man TT Practice
Wednesday
After early-week weather disruptions, sunshine finally broke through over the Isle of Man on Wednesday, allowing riders to get their first proper laps in for Qualifying at the 2025 TT. With time already lost, competitors wasted no time getting down to business on the Mountain Course.
In Wednesday’s first Qualifying session, Honda’s Dean Harrison led the field out for the first timed Qualifying session as he blasted down Glencrutchery Road. Logging an average speed in excess of 131 mph from a standing start, Harrison then pressed on for his flying lap to set an average speed of 133.069 mph, topping the Superbike class and the day. Harrison’s marker a successful start to Honda’s 2025 TT programme with the fastest lap ever recorded on the opening night of TT qualifying.
Harrison, a three-time TT winner in previous years, was also able to shake down his Honda CBR600RR that he is competing with in the Supersport class. Harrison’s best Supersport lap was an average of 126.436 mph, putting him second to 29-time TT winner Michael Dunlop who went 127.181 mph on a Ducati. Josh Brookes and David Johnson were just outside the Supersport top ten.
Dean Harrison
“It’s been a good day today, a good start. It’s always good to be the fastest, it lifts the team and tells you that you’re going in the right direction. The Superbike time was good but the bike’s very lively, we need to settle the handling down and make it easier to ride, so that it doesn’t take so much out of me over race distance. The Superstock’s doing well; I only got one lap on it, so I want to get some more laps under my belt, but it’s good to go out on that because it’s very similar to the Superbike so we can try a few things with it. The Supersport is running fine. On the quickest lap that I got in with that, I got held up by loads of people. We just caught loads of people but we made some changes to the handling after yesterday and they went in the right direction. We’re working through everything, I think that between the Superstock and Superbike we’ll end up in a good place and there’s just a couple of little tweaks to try on the Supersport. It’s going well.”
Veteran crowd favourite John McGuinness showed that he is in fine form with the seventh fastest Superbike time at an average speed of 128.031 mph.
John McGuinness
“Tonight the conditions were good, nigh on perfect, so I just had a good go, really, and enjoyed it. I did two laps on the Superbike, did a flying lap on that and we’re not a million miles away. And the Superstock with one lap is fine for now. It’s just finding your feet again and all the years of experience don’t prepare you for going off down Glencrutchery Road and Bray Hill for the first time at full speed. Your eyes are on stalks and it’s a shock to the system but we’re alright. I’m not going to be too hard on myself. We’ve just got to sit down with the team, look at a few details and go again tomorrow. We’re in a good place.”
In the Superstock class, Davey Todd led the way aboard the Monster Energy by 8TEN Racing BMW with a lap of 131.231mph.
Rob Hodson (119.521mph) was quickest Supertwin on the SMT Racing Paton.
The Crowe brothers (118.797mph) were fastest in the Sidecar class, where the session was shortened to one lap due to low cloud on the Mountain section.
New Zealander Mitch Rees made a strong debut, clocking 123.050 mph on his fourth lap of the Mountain Course.
Second Qualifying is set to get underway at 1800 this evening, Thursday 29th May.
Superbike Wednesday Practice
Superstock Wednesday Practice
Supersport Wednesday Practice
Supertwin Wednesday Practice
Sidecar Wednesday Practice
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L. Blackstock / O. Lawrence |
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R. van der Donckt / V. van der Donckt |
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W. Kranenburg / K. Koelsch |
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