Dean Harrison sets blistering opening qualifying pace of TT 2025

Top times surpass 130mph mark in first timed sessions

Dean Harrison set the top pace and surpassed the 133mph mark in a blisteringly fast opening qualifying to TT 2025 this evening (18 May).

The Honda Racing UK man sat atop the leaderboard (133.069mph) in the first timed outings as one of multiple riders to go north of the 130mph mark on the opening night.

One of those to go above that pace was Superstock rider Davey Todd (131.231mph) who finished top of that class for the night.

Elsewhere, the Supersport pace was set by Michael Dunlop (127.181mph) on his Ducati Panigale V2 whilst SMT Racing rider Rob Hodson clocked 119.521mph to be the fastest of the Supertwin machines. 

The reigning sidecar champions Ryan and Callum Crowe stormed to the top of the rankings in the three-wheeled class at 118.797mph and nearly 34 seconds clear of their nearest rivals. 

Despite competitors only having one untimed practice session so far, the pace was set at a ferocious standard from the outset in the first qualifying for the Superbike and Superstock class with the top times from a standing start above the 130mph mark.

And as the pacesetter throughout, Dean Harrison continued to find more pace as the laps went on to set the fastest time of the night on the Honda Racing UK superbike.

Elsewhere in the Superbike category, Harrison's nearest challenger, Peter Hickman was nearly 16 seconds further back despite a late charge to manage 131.076mph.

Completing the opening qualifying top three in the Superbikes was Hickman's 8TEN Racing teammate Todd who recorded 130.402mph on the one lap from a standing start.

A similarly impressive set of benchmarks were being set in the much busier Superstock field, also seeing top times above the 130mph on a standing start.

And at the summit of those Superstock timings this evening was 2024 Superstock TT champion Davey Todd on a flying lap on his 8TEN Racing BMW.

Meanwhile, also making the top three quickest times in that class were Harrison at second-fastest who managed 131.098mph, whilst squeezing into the top three with a best pace of 130.387mph was Michael Dunlop who only managed one circuit around the course on his MD Racing BMW machine.

The following session seemed to follow a familiar story of recent years as Dunlop - despite a change in machinery to Ducati power for 2025 - showed himself as the early man to beat whilst just behind was the impressive Harrison who clocked the second-fastest time at 126.436mph with James Hillier also in the top three times at 124.596mph.

It was a different story at the summit of the Supertwin class, however, as it was Hodson's flying lap which was enough to stay ahead of the standing-start lap of Dunlop (119.068mph) and Michael Evans (118.646mph).

Last out tonight was the sidecars and with their session cut down to just one lap due to low-lying cloud on the course, it was the reigning champions Ryan and Callum Crowe who went head and shoulders higher than the rest of the field.

A full 33.9 seconds further back at second-fastest of the three-wheelers was Pete Founds and Jevan Walmsley (115.37mph) with the pairing of Lee Crawford and Scott Hardie slotting in behind them (113.742mph).