Friday’s Qualifying Sessions at the Isle of Man TT See Hickman Dominate with 134.638mph Lap
June 10, 2024, iomtt.com
Peter Hickman, the 13-time TT winner, holds the outright lap record of 136.358mph set in last year’s second Superstock race, and he is determined to add to his tally of wins this year.
Friday’s Bumper Qualifying Day
On Friday’s bumper qualifying day, Hickman encountered an issue on his primary bike earlier in the day. As a result, he began the Superbike/Superstock session on his stock BMW. Despite outbraking himself at Signpost towards the end of the lap, Hickman still managed to produce a blistering 133mph lap from a standing start on his opening tour of the 37.75-mile TT course.
However, it was his subsequent flying lap that truly lit up the timing splits, as he clocked a remarkable 134.638mph effort on his stock bike to end practice week as the fastest rider overall.
Qualifying Action
Thursday’s qualifying action was cancelled due to a road traffic accident, resulting in an extended running schedule on Friday, including afternoon and evening sessions. As a result, a two-lap qualifying session for Superbike/Superstock has been added to Saturday’s race day schedule at 10:30am.
Prior to Friday’s running, TAS Racing’s Davey Todd was the rider to beat, having topped Wednesday’s action with a 131.821mph lap. Todd significantly raised the bar on Friday afternoon in the Superbike/Superstock session, posting a 133.942mph lap on his BMW Superbike – his fastest ever at the TT.
Standings
- Superbike: Todd led Hickman with a 133.851mph, while Michael Dunlop completed the top three on his Hawk Racing Honda at 132.728mph. Dean Harrison was fourth in the afternoon on his Honda Superbike with a 132.143mph lap, despite enduring a disrupted week on that bike.
- Superstock: Dunlop led the way at 132.135mph on his MD Racing Honda, with Harrison second on 131.293mph and Craig Neve at 129.448mph. However, Hickman and FHO team-mate Josh Brookes didn’t complete laps on their Superstock BMWs in the afternoon due to an issue.
Evening Session
When action resumed again at 6:30pm local time on Friday evening, nobody could better Hickman’s 134.638mph lap, which stood as the benchmark. Hickman completed two laps on his Superstock BMW before switching to his Superbike for a final tour in the session, ultimately going third overall with a 132.863mph effort.
- Todd was Hickman’s nearest challenger, setting his best lap of the evening – a 132.976mph lap – on his Superstock BMW, with Dunlop posting the fourth-fastest lap overall at 132.674mph on his Superstock Honda.
- Honda’s Harrison held the fifth fastest lap of the evening at 132.596mph, marking his best of the TT so far. Dunlop’s 132.399mph lap on his Superbike was the sixth-best of the evening.
Supersport Class
- Todd set the pace on his Powertoolmate Ducati V2 with a 127.062mph, beating James Hind and Michael Evans, with Harrison and Hickman completing the top five.
- Dunlop, however, was a noticeable absence from the Supersport timesheets on Friday evening, as he elected to focus on his Supertwin machine in that session. He holds the best Supersport lap of the week so far at 127.649mph, set on Friday afternoon on a Yamaha R6 having discarded the Triumph he started the event on.
Supertwin Class
- Dunlop led the Supertwin leaderboard at 121.882mph on his Paton, besting Jamie Coward, while Hickman was third on Friday evening ahead of Todd and Mike Browne.
Sidecar Class
The Ryan and Callum Crowe outfit led Peter Founds/Jevan Walmsley and Tim Reeves/Mark Wilkes, following a 119.191mph lap in the afternoon.
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