Dunlop seals 24th TT win in Supertwin Race 1

Thrilling battle behind sees Browne and Coward also secure podiums

Michael Dunlop returned to winning ways this evening (6 June) as he powered to a crushing victory in the Supertwin TT Race 1 to take his 24th TT victory overall.

Amid Dunlop's latest flying performance, a titanic tussle for the final podium spots entertained the fans throughout as Mike Browne went on to claim second after a nip-and-tuck contest with Jamie Coward, just 2.2 seconds behind.

It means Browne secures his first ever TT podium with Coward securing only his second top-three finish also.

As he had in qualifying, Michael Dunlop stormed into a commanding place out front across the opening lap, but it was a furious and close battle in behind early on for the other top spots with the likes of Jamie Coward, Mike Browne, Peter Hickman, Josh Brookes and Michael Rutter all in the mix.

By the time the first-lap pit stops arrived, Dunlop had stretched his lead to 14.3 seconds to Coward in second who will have been wary of Hickman lurking less than seven seconds back in third - Brookes also remained in contention in fourth, trailing Hickman by 6.2 seconds.

Pit stops appeared to prove significant as it played a part in spreading the order into lap two with Dunlop continuing to increase his lead from Coward who now had Browne snapping at his heels in third with Hickman dropping out of the podium places for the time-being.

The battle for second then intensified towards the end of lap two as Browne began to edge ahead of Coward as Hickman began to drop back and into the sights of Brookes who at the Grandstand trailed Hickman by just under four seconds.

As Dunlop continued his charge at the top of the standings, Browne and Coward continued to trade places in second and third right to the final run on lap three with less than two seconds separating them throughout the entire final run.

That, meanwhile, had no consequences for Dunlop who, after finishing second in the earlier Superstock race, went back to the top step on his MD Racing Paton, finishing with a flying lap of 121.905mph.

All eyes were then on the battle behind him and after a tense wait, spectators had the answer as to how the podium would look as Browne pipped Coward into second by the barest of margins.

The next races will take place tomorrow with the Supersport TT Race 2 scheduled for 11.45am and the Sidecar TT Race 2 to follow after at 2.15pm with roads around the TT course due to close tomorrow (7 June) at 10am.