Michael Dunlop equals TT record with 26 wins

The 35-year-old had to work for his victory, though, with Honda’s Dean Harrison flying out of the gates for the opening race of the 2024 TT fortnight. Dunlop started the second lap in third place, but “steady away” has often been the mantra for the Ballymoney man. Turning up the wick for the remaining three laps, Dunlop gradually pulled away from the chasing pack, despite opting to not change his rear tyre in the pits.

He would come home 8.5 seconds clear of Davey Todd’s all-new Ducati to rapturous applause from everyone around the 37.73-mile Mountain Course. The gravity of the moment was plain to see with the usually reserved Dunlop wearing his heart on his sleeve as he entered parc ferme. There was also a brief glance up to the heavens on the podium, as for all their triumphs around the TT course, there’s arguably few other families who have known as much tragedy in return.

Michael had been hotly tipped to be the one to usurp Joey as the ‘King of the Mountain,’ and it seems rather fitting that it was the Supersport category in which he equalled the tally. Michael’s first TT win came in the same class, winning the second Supersport race in 2009 aboard a Yamaha.

Across the past 15 years, Michael has been at the sharp end of the TT, including becoming the first man to ever lap the course in under 17 minutes in the 2016 Senior TT. Not only does Michael’s win to kick off 2024 mean he equals Joey’s win record, but also matches the 41 wins achieved by ‘Yer Maun’ throughout his legendary TT career.

The win record was almost broken outright just 24 hours later, as Michael looked to be cruising towards his 27th victory, holding a 25-second lead in Sunday’s Superbike race. Unfortunately, an error in the pits with his visor change meant the Ballymoney man had to pull over to fix the issue himself, costing him close to 50 seconds on the road. Given the context of the situation, fourth was an impressive result, but you could see just how frustrated Dunlop was.

All that means is that he will now be more fired up than ever, and with six more chances across the week, it seems very probable that there will be a new ‘King of the Mountain’ by the end of Saturday’s Senior TT.