Superbike, Superstock and Sidecar competitors will get their first run outs on the TT Mountain course in tonight’s qualifying session for the 2016 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy.
All eyes will be on the Valvoline Racing by Padgetts Honda RC213V-S, the production version of Marc Marquez’s MotoGP bike, which is expected to get its first outing but Bruce will also be taking the 2015 Fireblade on which he won last year’s Superbike race out for some laps as well.
The three main contenders for Superbike race wins, Michael Dunlop, Ian Hutchinson and 2015 Senior TT winner John McGuinness, will all be looking to lay down an early marker to the rest of the field but other contenders looking to establish their credentials will include GB Moto rider Peter Hickman 2015 PokerStars Senior TT runner-up James Hillier (GBmoto Racing) who will both be out on Kawasaki’s. Other seeded riders in the top ten include Gary Johnson and the evergreen Michael Rutter, who are both racing BMW’s and Honda Racing’s Conor Cummins.
Further down the field the Suter Racing MMX 500 that Ian Lougher will be racing will go out for its first lap and is sure to attract huge attention.
Many of the Supersport riders will have already qualified for next Monday and Wednesday’s two races but the riders will welcome a second session. Dean Harrison tops the leader board from Ian Hutchinson with the Yorkshire pair both completing six laps in the opening session although Michael Dunlop, who completed five laps, will be keen to remind them who is boss.
In the sidecar session all of the leading crews are expected to go out for their first session, after the newcomers got their first laps in on Saturday, with Dave Molyneux the pre-race favourite reunited with his long-term sidecar passenger Dan Sayle. The Birchalls, Tim Reeves/ Dan Sayle and John Holden who teams up with Andy Winkle again following his passenger’s recovery from the injury that forced him out of last year’s races.
Qualifying schedule: Monday 30th May
18.20 to 19.50
RST Superbike
RL360 Quantum Superstock
Monster Energy Supersport
Newcomers (All Classes except Lightweight)
19.55 to 20.50
Sure Sidecars
You can follow all of the qualifying and racing around the Mountain Course via the live timing and live Manx Radio commentary which is available via iomtt.com.
Tickets are available for the Grandstand for Monday’s qualifying session which is free to watch with the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday sessions costing £5 and Friday’s final qualifying session £15. There are also qualifying, race tickets available in the fanzones around the course at Ballacrye, Nobles Park and Creg Ny Baa as welll as Grandstand VIP hospitality tickets. To purchase tickets go to iomtt.com or visit the grandstand ticket office.
