ANDERSON QUICKEST AS CLASSIC TT QUALIFYING BEGINS
Qualifying for the Classic TT Races got underway on the Mountain Course on Wednesday afternoon. Aside from some late showers in the Greeba area, conditions were generally favourable and it was Shaun Anderson who set the pace, the Banbridge rider lapping at 122.822mph in the Formula One class.
Riding the Stanford Racing by ARD Suzuki GSX-R 750 SRAD, Anderson was 0.727s quicker than Nathan Harrison (Greenall Racing Kawasaki) with Michael Russell topping the new-for-2026 Junior 600 class after lapping at 114.500mph on the Complete Plumbing Solutions Yamaha YZF-R6.
It was the Lightweight and Ultra-Lightweight classes that were out first though at 1.15pm and after an opening lap of 115.379mph on the Laycock Racing Yamaha, a few set-up changes saw Mike Browne up his pace second time around to an impressive 116.639mph.
Mike Browne set the pace in the Lightweight class
That put him almost 47s clear of Stuart Hall who lapped at 112.130mph on the Whippet Racing Yamaha, which was a fraction quicker than Paul Jordan. Team-mate to Browne, he posted a second lap speed of 112.125mph with Michael Dunlop MBE slotting into fourth place on the leaderboard after a solitary lap of 111.875mph on the Milenco by Padgetts Motorcycles Honda.
Michal Dokoupil (Cookson Travel Yamaha) and Ryan Whitehall (Yellow House/DB Moto Yamaha) completed the top six at 109.539mph and 108.250mph respectively, but Hall had a fall at Laurel Bank on his third lap although he was reported to be conscious and talking.
In the concurrently run Ultra-Lightweight class, Paul Cassidy (106.065mph) set the pace on the Green Racing/Island Fuels Yamaha FZR400 and that put him almost five seconds clear of Joe Loughlin (105.657mph), the Irishman returning to the Mountain Course for the first time since he made his TT debut in 2022.
Manxman Paul Cassidy on the Yamaha FZR400
They were followed by Radley Hughes (103.423mph), Harley Rushton (101.600mph), Steven Price (99.619mph) and Russell Roebury (98.343mph).
The Formula One/Junior 600 session commenced just after 2pm, with Anderson and Harrison first away followed by Michael Evans, Julian Trummer, Jamie Coward and Dominic Herbertson.
There was little to choose between Anderson and Harrison on the opening lap as they circulated in close formation, the duo lapping at 122.822mph and 122.741mph respectively.
David Johnson (121.308mph) slotted into third on the Steadplan Racing Kawasaki and although his first attempt had to be aborted after clutch issues, Dunlop lapped at 121.402mph on the Team Classic Suzuki GSX-R750 SRAD.
Coward, on a second Greenall Racing Kawasaki, also had a few issues on his first lap, stopping at Ballacraine, but on his second lap he lapped at 121.758mph to move up to fourth on the leaderboard.
A few spots of rain were reported on the second lap but as well as Coward, Johnson (122.156mph), Dunlop (121.636mph) and Herbertson (121.500mph) all went quicker on their second laps.
Michael Russell topping the new-for-2026 Junior 600 class
In the Junior 600 class, Brian McCormack set the pace initially with a speed of 114.468mph on the JRC Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 but Russell eventually edged him out by just 0.332s with the early leaderboard completed by Tom Robinson (114.324mph), Cassidy (113.117mph), Julien Cregniot (112.729mph) and Barry Furber (111.568mph).
The Historic Senior and Historic Junior session then got underway but after a dozen riders left the line, the rest were held at the Grandstand for a short period due to light rainfall in the Greeba area.
Dean Harrison (101.353mph) and John McGuinness MBE (101.061mph) were amongst those first away in the Historic Senior class but when everyone else was able to get their session underway approximately 10 minutes later, Dunlop went quickest with a lap of 105.690mph on his Flitwick Motorcycles/SMV Royal Enfield.
Michael Dunlop MBE on his Flitwick Motorcycles/SMV Royal Enfield
That put him 25.4s clear of Conor Cummins (103.637mph) with the first lap speeds of Harrison and McGuinness keeping them in third and fourth and ahead of Rushton (100.629mph) and Paul Jordan (98.304mph).
It was a similar story in the Historic Junior class where Jordan and Rushton were two of the riders to encounter the rain, their opening laps of 96.445mph and 96.236mph ultimately placing them third and fourth quickest.
Herbertson topped the Historic Junior class with a 98.284mph lap
They were upstaged by Herbertson (98.284mph) and Stefano Bonetti (96.939mph) with Will Loder (96.112mph) and Dan Sayle (94.573mph) rounding out the top six. Meanwhile, 14-time Sidecar TT winner Ben Birchall completed his first solo qualifying lap of the Mountain Course with a lap of 87.852mph which placed him 13th quickest.
