Michael Dunlop took a dominant win in the first Supersport race of the 2026 Isle of Man TT, extending his run of consecutive wins in the class to nine.
Having switched to Ducati machinery last year, the Northern Irishman took his 34th TT victory by almost 25 seconds ahead of Superbike race winner Dean Harrison.
Though Harrison led throughout the first of three laps, Dunlop was a tenth ahead when the field made its mandatory pitstop at the end of lap one.
With his stop 1.4s quicker than Harrison’s, Dunlop kicked off lap two in the lead and from there pushed on to extend the gap, running 11.5s ahead by Cronk ny Mona.
Another strong tour on the third and final lap meant Dunlop stretched the lead to 24.4s to claim his 16th win in the class.
Peter Hickman was third on his Triumph, having first closed the gap to Paul Jordan before passing himon lap three by Ballaugh, even after a slow stop where his crew struggled to get his fuel cap off.
Jordan took fourth, seven seconds ahead of Joshua Brookes in fifth.
Mike Browne was running inside the top five for the whole race, and would have been classified fourth were it not for a 30-second pitlane speeding penalty which dropped him to 10th.
The organisers hoped to run the first sportbike race early in the evening after the supersports, but heavy rain on the west of the island put paid to that plan.
Full Supersport Race 1 results:
- Michael Dunlop, MD Racing, Ducati
- Dean Harrison, Honda Racing UK, Honda
- Peter Hickman, Trooper Triumph by PHR Performance, Triumph
- Paul Jordan, Jackson Racing powered by Prosper2, Ducati
- Josh Brookes, Uggly & Co. Racing, Suzuki
- Dominic Herbertson, KTS Macadam Triumph Factory Racing, Triumph
- Jamie Coward, Rapid Honda with DriveLife, Honda
- Shaun Anderson, Stanford Racing by ARD, Suzuki
- Ian Hutchinson, Burrows Engineering / RK Racing, Ducati
- Mike Browne, Boyce Precision Engineering by Russell Racing, Yamaha
Superbike TT
Dean Harrison took a sensational win in the opening race of the 2026 Isle of Man TT, claiming victory in the six-lap Superbike race ahead of Peter Hickman and Michael Dunlop.
Honda rider Harrison dominated from the off to take his sixth TT win, and his first in the Superbike class, after a strong practice week set the tone.
Harrison crossed the line 15 seconds clear of BMW rider Hickman, despite doubts about his fitness heading into the event, with a further 12s back to Dunlop - also on a Honda after a late switch back from the Ducati he had been set to race.
Yorkshireman Harrison quickly built a lead, with an advantage of 4.8s by Glen Helen on the first lap, and continued to built that gap throughout. At one point, he was 33s clear of his closest contender.
He has now taken victory in each of the four solo classes, and today's win marked his 36th podium.
Hickman and Dunlop repeatedly traded places throughout the six-lap race, and were separated by just tenths for much of the action.
Though Dunlop pulled the gap back to a couple of seconds, Hickman took the advantage after the second pitstop and put in his fastest lap of the race on lap six to seal second.
Dunlop, who holds the all-time win record on the Mountain Course, had doubted his pace after switching machinery, but made it onto the podium for his 52nd TT podium finish.
Josh Brookes was fourth after a thrilling battle with John McGuinness, marking the 30th anniversary of his first TT this year.
The gap was down to just 1.5s at one point on lap five, but Brookes rebuilt the gap across the final tour.
The Superbike race had been due to be the second race of the week, but Saturday’s Superstock race was rescheduled due to low fog.
Monday is currently scheduled to be a rest day before racing returns on Tuesday with a Supersport race in the morning followed by sportbike race one and a solo practice lap in the afternoon.
Full Superbike race results
- Dean Harrison, Honda Racing UK, Honda
- Peter Hickman, 8TEN Racing, BMW
- Michael Dunlop, MD Racing, Honda
- Josh Brookes, DAO Racing, Honda
- John McGuinness, Honda Racing UK, Honda
- Ian Hutchinson, TeamRST, BMW
- Jamie Coward, Rapid Honda with DriveLife, Honda
- Nathan Harrison, H&H Motorcycles, Honda
- Mike Browne, Boyce Precision Engineering by Russell Racing, Honda
- Paul Jordan, Jackson Racing powered by Prosper2, Honda
