The annual motorcycling mecca takes place on the small island in the middle of the Irish sea for two weeks every summer and this year at least one record is guaranteed to fall, with more races taking place than ever before.
An additional two races have been squeezed into the schedule for 2023, with the Senior TT no longer scheduled for its traditional bank holiday Friday slot.
Instead, the Senior will now close out race week on a Saturday – as it did last year due to numerous delays – and there are additional races for both the Superstock and Supertwin classes.
That means that every category racing at the TT now has two bites at the cherry across the week but who is in the running for this years event?
In the opening qualifying session of the 2023 Isle of Man TT Races it was Michael Dunlop that set the pace, topping all four solo classes including an unofficial lap record in the Supertwin category, with a lap of 122.907mph, quicker than his 2018 best of 122.750mph.
Dunlop was also quickest in the Superbike class on the Hawk Racing Honda (131.782mph), the Superstock class (130.426mph) on his MD Racing Honda and the Supersport class where he lapped at 127.019mph on the MD Racing Yamaha. In the Sidecar class, it was Pete Founds/Jevan Walmsley who were quickest at 117.431mph.
Peter Hickman set the quickest lap on the second night of qualifying at the Isle of Man TT Races with the FHO Racing BMW rider lapping at 132.079mph on his FHO Racing BMW Superbike.
That was a second quicker than Dean Harrison (DAO Racing Kawasaki) with Michael Dunlop a further second back on the Hawk Racing Honda.
Dunlop did, however, top the Superstock class after lapping at 131.843mph with Ben and Tom Birchall fastest in the Sidecar class with a lap of 118.316mph on their Steadplan/Hager LCR Honda.
On Wednesday, qualifying for this year’s Isle of Man TT Races hotted up with the first 133mph laps of the week and it was Dean Harrison who was quickest, the DAO Racing Kawasaki rider topping the Superbike class at 133.514mph.
Harrison was only a second quicker than Michael Dunlop’s lap of 133.367mph on the Hawk Racing Honda with Peter Hickman (FHO Racing Monster Energy BMW) also breaking the 133mph barrier but in the Superstock class, topping it with a speed of 133.284mph.
Hickman was also fastest in the Supersport class, his lap of 127.206mph on the K2 Trooper Beer by PHR Triumph the quickest of the week, whilst Jamie Coward topped the Supertwins with a speed of 120.970mph on his KTS Racing Kawasaki.
Ben and Tom Birchall were again quickest in the Sidecar class at 118.523mph on their Steadplan/Hager LCR Honda.
More qualifying sessions are due to take place on Thursday and Friday before the opening races take place this Saturday.
