Michael Dunlop set the pace in the opening qualifying session at the Isle of Man TT Races, lapping at 129.590mph on the Hawk Racing Honda in the Superbike category.
Overnight rain and morning mist pushed the schedule back to the afternoon with the Newcomers’ speed controlled lap kickstarting proceedings at 14.40.
Unsurprisingly, a few riders ran into issues, including Dunlop who stopped at Greeba as well as Sam West and Marcus Simpson who both tipped off at Governor’s, but after a short delay, the first qualifying session of TT2024 got underway at 6.05pm, the Supertwin/Supersport the first to leave the line again.
Peter Hickman was quickest in the Superstock class on the Monster Energy by FHO Racing BMW (129.032mph) as well as topping the leaderboard in the Supertwin class on his Swan Racing Yamaha (118.011mph) whilst Davey Todd was fastest in the Supersport class on the Powertoolmate Ducati (125.601mp). In the Sidecar class, it was local stars Ryan and Callum Crowe who were quickest at 116.699mph.
In the Supertwins, Rutter was an early retirement at Crosby, and it was Barry Furber (114.958mph) who was quickest on the opening lap from Mike Browne (114.910mph) and Stefano Bonetti (114.372m[h). However, Hickman soon went into the number one spot with a lap of 118.011mph after switching from his Supersport machine. Todd also managed to get out on his Dafabet Kawasaki lapping at 116.063mph.
Next up was the Superbike/Superstock session with the majority opting for the latter; the Honda pairing of Dean Harrison and John McGuinness were two of the few riders that opted to be Superbike-mounted along with Craig Neve (Bathams Racing Honda) and Hind.
Quickest on the opening lap was Hickman at 129.032mph, which put him 1.322 seconds ahead of Dunlop (MD Racing Honda) who lapped at 128.870mph.
The final session of a busy day was the Sidecars with the Crowes setting the initial pace on their Kelproperties Honda at 116.261mph, which was 7.6 seconds quicker than Founds/Walmsley’s lap of 115.505mph. Birchall/Rousseau slotted into third (114.862mph) ahead of Reeves/Wilkes (112.039mph) and Founds/Gibbons (110.467mph).
