Michael Dunlop takes TT win 34 with Supersport masterclass

TT 2026

Monster Energy Supersport TT Race One

Dunlop makes it nine straight in Supersport as Brookes salvages fifth

Michael Dunlop took the 34th TT win of his career in Tuesday’s Monster Energy Supersport race. Dunlop marched to victory in emphatic style over the course of the 3-lap contest, crossing the line on his Scars Racing Ducati over 24s ahead of Dean Harrison (CBR 600RR) to chalk up his 9th Supersport victory on the bounce. Peter Hickman completed the podium on the Swan Racing Triumph; a reenactment of Sunday’s SBK TT rostrum only with the names juggled around in a different order.

The Supersport rostrum brought the same three men together again, but in a different order: Michael Dunlop first, Dean Harrison second and Peter Hickman third.

Michael is now undefeated in the class since 2019, and if today’s performance is anything goes on, that record looks like it’s set to roll on for some time yet.

Michael Dunlop looks up at the silverware after extending his TT tally to 34 wins with a dominant Supersport performance on the MD Racing Ducati.

It’s been a stuttering start to race week so far this year due to unpredictable weather. Today’s race was just the 2nd of the festival so far. Yesterday, the entire island was shrouded in fog, which made for scenes more suited to a Sherlock Holmes mystery rather than a high-octane motorsport event. That fog was still hanging around this morning, and as fans rose for breakfast, it instantly became clear that the planned 3-race schedule was going to struggle to get off the ground.

Delay after delay was announced before we were told to get in position and be ready for a reduced-to-3-lap Supersport race at 1500. Fans frantically made their way to their preferred vantage points throughout the course, and without further delay, we were finally racing in the late afternoon.

It was the little Irish dairy farmer, Mike Browne who led them away at number 1. Browne had opted to ride his BPE/Russell Racing Yamaha YZF-R6, rather than the R9 the team had acquired for this season.
It was a decision that seemed to be a good one as Browne got down to business fairly sharpish and was on the pace from the get-go, and was sitting 3rd at the first time split.

But it was Sunday’s SBK TT victor, Dean Harrison who led the way at Glen Helen on that opening lap, with Dunlop just 1.5s back. Harrison rides the 600 Honda week-in-week-out in the British Supersport championship, and he extracted the absolute maximum from his machine throughout lap 1. He led at every checkpoint, but Dunlop, who was catching the riders in front of him on the road in the early miles, was looming right behind the Honda man on the timesheets; never further than 2 seconds back.

Michael Dunlop was not to be denied once the MD Racing Ducati Panigale V2 came alive, the Ballymoney man taking TT win number 34 and keeping his Supersport winning streak intact.

You got the impression that, like last year, Michael was taking time to settle in – confident enough in his superiority over the field that he could afford to bed himself in before pulling the pin… and that’s more or less what happened.

Dean Harrison’s Honda crew go to work during the compulsory stop. Harrison led the early exchanges on corrected time and ultimately finished second, 24.470 seconds behind Dunlop.

As the race had been reduced to 3 laps, it was compulsory to pit at the end of lap 1. MD hit the front for the first time as they entered the pit lane, and it was a cool, calm stop for the Ballymoney man.

Ian Hutchinson heads the group on the Mountain on his way to ninth, with Conor Cummins also in the frame before finishing 12th after a costly pit-lane infringement.

Behind the two front men, a furious battle raged for the final step on the podium with Paul Jordan, Mike Browne, Peter Hickman and Dominic Herbertson all involved. Jordan took over 3rd from Browne at Ramsey on lap 1, and Hickman also nipped ahead after a fast run over the mountain, pushing Mike back to 5th.

Dunlop was measured early, decisive after the compulsory stop, and then brutal on the clocks, stretching the race open before sealing victory by 24.470 seconds over Dean Harrison.

But there was drama in the pit lane when Browne went just over the speed limit and got himself a 30-second penalty in the process, putting him out of contention. The limit is 60mph, and Browne had just nudged 60.9. You’d have to say that the punishment doesn’t fit the crime when the stakes are so high… But those are the rules. Manxman Conor Cummins also fell foul of the speed limit and received the same punishment.

Another Supersport TT, another Michael Dunlop win. His command of the class now stretches back years, and this one arrived with the fastest lap and a 24.470-second margin.

Onto lap 2, and Dunlop began stretching the legs of the Scars V2 Ducati as he negotiated the run to Glen Helen. The difference to Harrison was 2.3s when he got there, and he’d almost doubled it by Ballaugh.

The lead was out to 7s at Ramsey and almost 10 by the Bungalow. MD really went to town on that 2nd circuit, and it paid dividends. Starting the final lap, Harrison had a 12.5s deficit to make up, and it was obvious at that point that as long as Dunlop finished, then the race was his. Deano had the comfort of a 30s advantage over Paul Jordan in 3rd, so he at least knew he didn’t need to watch his mirrors as far as the runner-up spot went on the last lap.

Dunlop’s final lap was the race-breaker and the benchmark, a 17m43.884s lap at 127.672 mph that underlined why he remains the Supersport class reference.

In the end, Dunlop took the victory by 24.47s over Harrison, with Dean a similar gap ahead of 3rd.
The last lap was all about the fight for the final place in the winner’s enclosure.

Dean Harrison

“First of all, I’m really pleased we got that race away. It was touch and go today and I wanted to go racing as much as the fans wanted to watch a race, we all deserved something. I did what I could and rode well, but it’s challenging when you’re giving away so much capacity. The team built a brilliant bike for me and I feel like I’ve been riding the CBR600RR well all year on the roads and the short circuits, it’s so much fun getting it singing and carrying corner speed as much as you can. I’ll take that second place, I’m pleased for the boys in the team and for Honda, we’ll keep an eye on the weather and see what tune it plays with the schedule.”

Dean Harrison and the Honda Racing squad banked another podium from a strong Supersport showing, Harrison finishing runner-up after extracting plenty from the CBR600RR.

It was Paul Jordan who held it as they blasted down Bray Hill for the final time, but he didn’t enjoy the luxury of any kind of cushion over 4th. All throughout lap 2, he’d had the undivided attention of Peter Hickman, who was hunting the Jackson racing Ducati down every inch of the way… You could almost hear the menace of the Jaws theme tune as Hicky and the Swan Triumph tightened the screw. As they started that last lap, Jordan had a 1.8s gap, but you just knew the inevitable was coming…

Hickman’s final-lap push on the Swan Racing Triumph made the podium fight his own, the Triumph rider turning a narrow deficit to Jordan into a comfortable third by the flag.

Hickman took over 3rd as they hit Glen Helen, and he was a couple of seconds up. At Ballaugh, the gap was over 6s, and by Ramsey, the difference was 10. Jordan managed to limit the damage over the Mountain, and when they crossed the line to finish the race, Hickman was just a dozen seconds up on him.

Peter Hickman

“I’m really happy to be on the podium with the Triumph Street Triple in the Supersport class; I always enjoy riding the 765, particularly around here at the Isle of Man TT. We did have a small issue in the pit stop, just with the fuel cap, which didn’t work out and we lost about 10s in the stop, but fortunately I managed to overhaul Paul (Jordan) to get into third. It’s a really good result for the PHR team and for Triumph to be back on the podium and hopefully we can have another good result in the second race later this week.”

The Race 1 Supersport TT podium: Dean Harrison second for Honda, Michael Dunlop first for MD Racing Ducati, and Peter Hickman third for Swan Racing Triumph.

But disappointing as it may have been to miss out on the podium, fourth was a great ride for Jordan; one that proves the same result in the 2nd Supersport race last year was no fluke. Paul’s been training hard over the winter months for the past number of years at Muay Thai camps in Thailand, and it’s clear to see in the standard of his riding that that is paying off.

Josh Brookes was right back in the mix on the Uggly & CO Racing Suzuki R750, recovering from a slow start to finish fifth in the opening Supersport TT race. The Australian also had proper pace once wound up, recording the fourth-fastest lap of the race at 126.115 mph.

Josh Brookes managed to salvage 5th after a slow start to the race, which cost him a chance to fight for the podium. He’d been right up the leaderboard in practice, but for whatever reason today, Josh was slow out of the traps on the Uggly and Co. Suzuki. He was down to 10th at Glen Helen on lap 1, and did well to bring it back to 5th by the finish. The Australian nicked ahead of Dominic Herbertson as they swept through the Bungalow for the final time and then pushed for home over the Mountain.

Josh Brookes attacked the final lap hard to salvage fifth, getting the better of Dominic Herbertson over the Mountain after initially losing touch with the podium battle.

Herbertson will still have been happy with 6th as today was one of the strongest rides of his career on the KTS Triumph. He’s never really looked this capable on the bigger bikes, despite finishing on the Supertwin podium twice before; today will be something to build upon.

Jamie Coward (Rapid Honda), Shaun Anderson (Stanford Suzuki), Ian Hutchinson (Burrows/ RK Racing Ducati), and Mike Browne completed the top 10. (It’s worth noting that without the pitlane speeding infringement, Browne would have finished 5th.)

Conor Cummins leads Ian Hutchinson on the road, although the final order told a different story after the three-lap race shook out. Hutchinson brought the Burrows/RK Racing Ducati home ninth, while Cummins was 12th after being one of the riders stung by a pit-lane speeding penalty.

Davo Johnson brought the CD Racing Kawasaki home in 11th, with New Zealand’s Mitch Rees banking a really impressive 13th on his first TT race on a Supersport bike.

It was reported after the race that Northern Irish newcomer, Gary McCoy, crashed at Kerrowmoor and was airlifted to hospital. McCoy was reported to be ‘conscious and talking’, but we await further updates on his condition.

A Sportsbike race had been pencilled in for the evening after the Supersport TT, but unfortunately, a heavy rain shower came in from the west of the island about half an hour before racing was due to commence.

We are now fairly up against it when it comes to scheduling. Already two races behind (and that’s without the cancelled sidecars), the weather looks particularly bad over the next two days. Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson has warned that next Sunday may need to be used if we are to fit in all races. But using that contingency day has traditionally been difficult to arrange, as many of the required marshals have already left the island to go home.

For tomorrow, Thompson has advised all to be ready in case a window of opportunity appears that might allow even one race to run in the afternoon or evening. The morning has been completely ruled out, but Thompson has said to keep diaries free from midday onwards. Tonight, fingers and toes all over the island are crossed in the hope that the weather Gods take pity on the races and the fairies at Braddan wave a magic wand that alters the course of a forecast that currently offers little hope.

Monster Energy Supersport TT Race One Results

POS

RIDER

BIKE

SPEED

1	M Dunlop	Duc	126.318
2	D Harrison	Hon	125.367
3	P Hickman	Tri	124.467
4	P Jordan	Duc	124.029
5	J Brookes	Suz	123.332
6	D Herbertson	Tri	123.081
7	J Coward	Hon	122.857
8	S Anderson	Suz	122.846
9	I Hutchinson	Duc	122.760
10	M Browne	Yam	122.533
11	D Johnson	Kaw	121.701
12	C Cummins	Suz	121.232
13	M Rees	Hon	121.190
14	N Harrison	Hon	121.001
15	M Evans	Tri	120.459
16	J Yeardsley	Suz	120.309
17	M Russell	Suz	120.190
18	J Cringle	Duc	120.093
19	B Furber	Tri	120.048
20	P Y Bian	Tri	119.768
21	J Trummer	Tri	119.580
22	E Kostamo	Duc	119.396
23	B McCormack	Suz	119.376
24	R Hardisty	Yam	119.159
25	M Simpson	Tri	118.971
26	T Shann	Tri	118.249
27	R Whitehall	Yam	117.522
28	J Chawke	Suz	116.708
29	D Datzer	Tri	116.523
30	T Monot	Yam	116.521
31	D Forbes	Suz	116.506
32	L Majcan	Yam	116.463
33	T Weeden	Tri	116.181
34	B Burrell	Tri	116.094
35	J Fowler	Tri	115.873
36	R Garside	Tri	115.841
37	S Johnson	Suz	114.759
38	M Mace	Suz	113.894
39	A Blanc	Yam	113.592
40	J Halliday	Suz	112.323
41	M Morris	Duc	112.210
42	C Szczypek	Kaw	111.684