Flying Todd emerges among favourites

Teessider tops times after Wednesday qualifying

Davey Todd has emerged as one of the front runners for the 2024 Isle of Man TT Races after topping the timesheets in both the Superbike and Superstock classes in Wednesday’s night’s qualifying session. Earlier in the week the 29-year-old Teessider was fastest in the Supersport category too.

Now racing a BMW M1000RR for the Milwaukee power tools backed TAS Racing outfit, Todd posted a 131.821mph lap on his highly tuned superbike-spec machine, before jumping on the more standard superstocker to average at 130.429mph around the 37.73-mile course.

Michael Dunlop was second fastest in Superbike on his Honda Fireblade, less than a second behind Todd, with a 131.729mph lap. Lap record holder Peter Hickman was third on another BMW, posting 130.804mph on his Monster Energy-backed FHO Racing machine. A resurgent John McGuinness was fourth, leading the official Honda Racing trio after Dean Harrison stopped out on course.

Having appeared on Monday riding a Triumph, Dunlop made a surprise switch back to the Yamaha upon which he won the two Supersport races last year. He immediately took the lap record holding R6 up to the top of Supersport timesheets with a 126.917mph lap, suggesting he’ll revert to that machine for race week. The middleweight class is looking interesting this year, with all six manufacturers represented in the top six qualifying positions to date. Behind Dunlop’s Yamaha, Jamie Coward (Triumph), Todd (Ducati), James Hillier (Kawasaki), Harrison (Honda) and James Hind (Suzuki) are all looking like potential podium contenders.

In the Supertwin class, the top eight riders all went quicker than in the Monday session. Coward deposed Hickman at the top of the timings, clocking a 119.285mph lap on his heavily modified Kawasaki Z650. Hickman lies second on his Yamaha R7, with Irishman Mike Browne third on an Aprilia. In what is looking like a very close class this year, Rob Hodson leads a sextet of Patons with a 118.163mph lap, with class lap record holder Dunlop keeping his powder dry in sixth.

In the sidecars, local riders Ryan and Callum Crowe set a personal best lap of 118.814mph to top their session, with the new team of 14-time winner Ben Birchall and Kevin Rousseau improving to a 118.271mph lap for second. The session was ended early after a bad crash involving newcomers Chris Schofield and Thomas Dawkins, although the driver later posted on social media a message stating ‘we will be ok’.

Qualifying continues on Thursday and Friday, ahead of the first races on Saturday.