Northern Irish star Michael Dunlop secured his 34th career TT victory by winning the first Supersport race of the 2026 Isle of Man TT with his Ducati Panigale V2. With a dozen riders retiring from the three-lap race on Tuesday's Mountain Course for various reasons, Dunlop crossed the finish line approximately 25 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.
📍 TT PODIUM – SUPERSPORT TT RACE 1
Following the Monster Energy Supersport TT Race 1, the "Big Three" celebrated on the podium:
🥇 Michael Dunlop 🏆
🥈 Dean Harrison
🥉 Peter Hickman#TT2026 #IOMTT #MichaelDunlop #SupersportTT #Winner #TTPodium #MonsterEnergy #FrenYok…— Fren Yok (@frenyok46) June 2, 2026
Harrison couldn't maintain the early lead.
Dean Harrison of Honda took the lead at the start of the race; however, Dunlop overtook Harrison on his Ducati at the end of the first lap and extended his lead to approximately 25 seconds by the finish. In a race marked by challenging weather conditions, the standings began to take shape from the early laps.
Hickman made up for the pit stop, the starting five took shape.
The battle for third place was also fierce. Peter Hickman, despite losing more than 10 seconds during a pit stop at the end of the first lap, recovered; he caught up with Paul Jordan at the end of the second lap and finished comfortably in third place. Josh Brookes completed the top five by overtaking Dominic Herbertson on the final lap; Herbertson finished about six seconds behind Brookes, and about the same distance ahead of Jamie Coward, who finished seventh.
Dunlop is breaking records.
With this victory, Dunlop continued his eight-race winning streak between 2022-2025, achieving his ninth consecutive Supersport victory. He also increased his overall record to 34 TT wins and 53 podiums; 16 of his 34 victories, almost half, came in Supersport. Dunlop had expressed dissatisfaction with his third-place finish in the Superbike race earlier in the week due to a lack of preparation with his Honda; this victory was a significant morale boost for the rider, who represents the Irish, rather than the Spanish, road racing tradition.