Dean Harrison surpasses 135mph during final qualifying

Honda man sets the standard ahead of first races

Dean Harrison broke past the 135mph lap mark and broke the Superstock qualifying record during the final timed practice of TT 2026.

Ahead of the scheduled first races of this year's event, the Honda rider topped the Superbike and Supertock standings across qualifying four and five respectively, in the latter of those two classes setting an imperious pace of 135.484mph.

Elsewhere and continuing his command over the other solo classes, Michael Dunlop MBE surged clear in both Supersport sessions, pushing towards 129mph in the second of the two outings on his MD Racing Ducati.

The 33-time winner also went quickest in the first Sportbike class at just over 123mph from a standing start before Mike Browne set the space in the second session for machines in that category.

In what was the first session since the removal of the sidecar class at this year's event, Superbike and Superstock machinery were first on course this morning.

The headline from those opening laps saw Dean Harrison become the first rider to pass the 134mph mark at 134.877mph on his Honda Racing UK machine to top the Superbike and overall timing boards.

Elsewhere in the Superbikes - which saw just 11 complete timed laps - Peter Hickman on the 8TEN Racing BMW went second-quickest at 132.712 mph with Michael Dunlop rounding out the top three at 132.149mph.

Meanwhile, it was Mike Browne who set the standard in the first Superstock outing at 129.798mph, just half-a-second ahead of Hickman who managed 129.725mph from a standing start on his one lap in the class.

Josh Brookes also continued his solid form in the Superstocks at third-quickest, clocking 129.186mph, also from a standing start.

As the session transitioned into Supersport and Sportbike machinery, numerous riders began to cite the increasing wind speeds around the course, particularly on the mountain section.

With conditions changing, it was Dunlop again sitting at the summit of the Supersport standings, managing a late 128.351mph lap despite being short-flagged at the end of his run.

Also in the Supersport were Hickman (127.215mph) and Harrison (126.899mph), both from standing starts.

Having set an unofficial Sportbike lap record earlier in the week, Dunlop again dominated on the MD Racing Paton Supertwin in the Sportbike section with a standing start lap speed of 123.02mph.

That saw him go just over 20 seconds clear of second-quickest Sportbike competitor, Peter Hickman at 120.803mph on his one and only lap in the class with Paul Jordan (120.649mph) sitting just over one second further back.

With one final qualifying session to come, riders continued to change machinery and priorities for one last chance at timed laps once action got back underway.

With a switch to Superstock power, Dean Harrison upped the tempo even more to top the latest timings in the class at 135.484mph; Dunlop followed behind in second at 131.946mph whilst in a competitive field further back, no fewer than seven riders from third to ninth were running in the 129-130mph range.

Whilst plenty had their sights set on Superstock bikes, just five Superbikes were out on this latest run - Josh Brookes the quickest at 132.22mph ahead of Nathan Harrison (129.971mph) and John McGuinness MBE (128.544mph).

Ending the day was the final timed practice for Supersport and Sportbike machines - in the former of those, a familiar name leading the way as Dunlop clocked 128.719mph whilst Hickman (127.301mph) and Dominic Herbertson (125.74mph) also impressed.

In the ever-rotating battle for supremacy in the Sportbike category, this time it was Mike Browne who went quickest at 121.348mph.

Tomorrow is scheduled to be the first race day of TT 2026, with the three-lap Superstock Race 1 on the cards - a detailed schedule will be announced in due course.