TT 2016: Dunlop makes TT history with dominant Superbike win

Michael Dunlop took an emphatic victory in today’s RST Superbike TT to dominate BMW rival Ian Hutchinson by 19.064 seconds.

As the Ballymoney star headed off down Bray Hill on the opening lap, he was already on a mission and clocked two fastest-ever sectors on his way to obliterating the outright lap record with the TT’s first sub-17 minute lap (133.37mph) from a standing start.

Running 134mph average pace Ramsey to Ramsey, Dunlop had gapped Hutchinson by 16 seconds after the first round of pit stops. Dean Harrison had made a strong start to take third in the early stages but 23x time TT winner John McGuinness, benefitting from both a quicker pit stop and Ian Hutchinson’s slip stream, stole the final podium spot into the third lap.

Dunlop was 21 seconds up after the second round of pit stops as McGuinness continued to turn up the heat having knocked ten seconds off Hutchinson in just a lap.

Controlling his lead into the final lap, Dunlop cruised to his 12^th TT victory. A 132.737mph lap for Hutchinson secured second for him on the final lap with John McGuinness completing the podium in third.

Peter Hickman closed in a 17 second gap to Dean Harrison in the second half of the race to take fourth place. Michael Rutter rounded out the top six.

David Johnson made TT history for Norton with an incredible seventh place, ahead of Bruce Anstey on the RC213V-S and Gary Johnson. Lee Johnston rounded out the top ten. 

Result 

1) Michael Dunlop – Hawk BMW
2) Ian Hutchinson – Tyco BMW
3) John McGuinness – Honda Racing
4) Peter Hickman – GBmoto Kawasaki
5) Dean Harrison – Silicone Engineering Kawasaki
6) Michael Rutter – Bathams BMW
7) David Johnson – Norton
8) Bruce Anstey – Padgetts Racing
9) Gary Johnson – Penz13 BMW
10) Lee Johnston – ECC Burdens BMW