Hutchinson fastest but Dunlop already on front runners’ pace

Ian Hutchinson has laid down his superbike intentions ahead of Saturday’s first race of the 2015 Isle of Man TT, setting the first 130mph lap of practice week to top the second timed session from John McGuinness and Bruce Anstey.

However, the story of the night is the return to form of Michael Dunlop following his dramatic eleventh hour switch from Yamaha to BMW machinery. Going some 4mph faster than his fastest lap of the week to date on his first outing, the Northern Irishman finished the night fourth fastest overall despite only running his superstock bike.

The session was once again hit with delays despite perfect conditions, with an incident at the start of the combined Lightweight/Supersport session bringing out the red flags and causing a delay of over half an hour. The delay was further extended by a fire engine travelling along the course to a non-racing incident

When the session resumed for a solidary lap, it was Gary Johnson who was able to get immediately up to speed, finishing ahead of Bruce Anstey and William Dunlop on his Mar-Train Yamaha.

In the sidecar session, once again hit by the delay and only getting the chance to run two laps, Dave Molyneux and Ben Binns set the early pace with a lap of 114.291,  but John Holden andDan Sayle upstaged them all by going quickest at 114.742, five seconds faster than Molyneux. Tim Reeves and Patrick Farrance slotted into third.