MCGUINNESS HITS 130 AS HARRISON TOPS TIMES AGAIN
Day three at the 2026 Isle of Man TT Races saw perfect weather for the third consecutive day and there was no change at the top of the leaderboard either.
Dean Harrison was again the fastest overall, the Honda Racing UK rider posting a lap of 133.867mph on his Superstock machine.
Harrison was again first on the road and fastest overall with a lap of 133.867mph on his Honda Superstock
Out last, the Superbike/Superstock session saw Harrison again first on the road with most riders opting for their Superstock mounts, with Peter Hickman, John McGuinness, Josh Brookes, Ian Hutchinson and David Johnson notable exceptions.
Harrison was first to complete a lap, clocking in at 133.362mph, which placed him ahead of Michael Dunlop (131.952mph) and Nathan Harrison (130.318mph) on the Superstock leaderboard, whilst it was Hickman who was initially quickest in the Superbike class with a lap of 131.172mph on the 8TEN Racing BMW. McGuinness (130.163mph) also broke the 130mph barrier on his opening lap.
Second time around and Harrison’s speed was 133.867mph although it was a ‘short lap’, rather than a flying lap, as the whole field was brought into the pits to allow an ambulance on to the course for a non-racing emergency.
Hickman lapped at 131.328mph, but he cruised all the way from Governor’s Bridge with McGuinness doing the same, his second lap speed 130.863mph. Several riders were on course for personal best laps prior to being short lapped but an impressive performance came from newcomer Gary McCoy as he increased his speed from the previous day with a lap of 122.809mph.
An impressive performance from newcomer Gary McCoy as he increased his speed with a lap of 122.809mph
The Supersport/Sportbike session got proceedings underway at 1.00pm and conditions were again perfect, the only major difference to the previous days being a slight increase in the wind.
Dunlop was first to leave the line on his MD Racing Paton followed by Brookes on the Uggly & Co. Suzuki Supersport machine. The expected front runners were split across the Supersport and Sportbike classes with Harrison, Conor Cummins, Paul Jordan, Ian Hutchinson and Jamie Coward out on the former.
Hutchinson was hoping for a trouble-free run after issues with the air scoop on Tuesday caused the fairing to work its way loose on the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing Ducati.
Hutchinson was hoping for a trouble-free run after his fairing came loose on Tuesday
Harrison was aiming to complete his first laps on the Honda Racing Supersport machine and the lack of track time proved to be no issue. Just as he had done on Tuesday on his Superbike, he set the pace on his Supersport bike, an opening lap of 126.551mph putting him 5.9s ahead of Hickman (125.859mph) with Jordan (125.762mph) slotting into third.
Dunlop, meanwhile, was comfortably inside the Sportbike lap record with a speed of 123.557mph, his quickest ever lap on the Paton, with Mike Browne (120.516mph) and Barry Furber (117.578mph) following him in second and third respectively.
Dunlop set his quickest ever lap on the Paton with a speed of 123.557mph
The 33-time winner switched to the Scars Racing Ducati for his second lap and immediately went third quickest in the Supersport class with a standing start lap of 127.076mph. That put him 1.4s behind Hickman who moved to the top of the leaderboard after lapping at 127.245mph, 0.025s quicker than Harrison (127.242mph) although their speeds were set on flying laps.
“Day three now so third day on the bike and I’m building myself into it slowly but surely,” said Hickman. “I’m getting my brain back into gear and starting to attack the course, so I dug in a bit more on the second lap and the little 765 Triumph feels pretty good.”
Dunlop’s second lap of 128.315mph saw him go quickest in the Supersport session from Hickman, Harrison, Brookes, Jordan and Dominic Herbertson whilst his earlier Sportbike lap of 123.557mph placed him ahead of Browne (121.030mph) and Jordan (120.475mph) with newcomer Rhys Stephenson making good progress at 112.720mph.
At 2pm, it was the turn of the Sidecars to take to the Mountain Course, and the Crowes were again quicker than the rest of the field on the opening lap, their speed of 118.458mph quicker than their best lap on Tuesday evening. The opposition had closed the gap though, Ben Birchall/Mark Wilkes 20s adrift in second at 116.427mph with Pete Founds/Jevan Walmsley (114.865) ahead of Lee Crawford/Scott Hardie (112.991) and John Holden/Phil Hyde (112.635).
The Crowe brothers' opposition started closing the gap compared to Tuesday's times
Lap two saw the Crowes lap slightly slower at 118.214mph, the reduced pace largely due to it being a ‘short lap’ as the competitors were flagged off the course just before the end of the lap as the session concluded. Had it not been for that, the lap speed would have been closer to 119mph, but Birchall/Wilkes (116.753) and Founds/Walmsley (115.399) did go quicker.
James Saunders, in his second TT as a driver, and newcomer passenger Robert Coppock impressed at 110.166mph as did Carl Fenwick/Jake Roberts with a speed of 109.163mph, Fenwick having his first TT outing since 2014.
