FHO Racing rider Hickman, chasing to add to his tally of 13 TT wins this year, holds the outright lap record of 136.358mph set in last year’s second Superstock race.
Having encountered an issue on that bike earlier on Friday’s bumper qualifying day, Hickman elected to begin Friday evening’s Superbike/Superstock session on his stock BMW.
On pace for a 133mph lap from a standing start on his opening tour of the 37.75-mile TT course, Hickman outbraked himself at Signpost towards the end of the lap.
Carrying on for a flying lap, Hickman lit up the timing splits and produced a 134.638mph effort on his stock bike to end practice week fastest of all.
Due to Thursday’s qualifying action being cancelled due to a road traffic accident, Friday’s running was extended to include sessions in the afternoon and the evening.
A two-lap qualifying session for Superbike/Superstock has been added to Saturday’s race day schedule at 10:30am as a result of the disruption.
Coming into Friday’s running, TAS Racing’s Davey Todd – seeking his first TT win – was the rider to beat having topped Wednesday’s action with a 131.821mph lap.
Todd raised the bar substantially on Friday afternoon in the Superbike/Superstock session, posting a 133.942mph lap on his BMW Superbike – his fastest ever at the TT.
Davey Todd, TAS Racing BMW
Photo by: iomtt.com
He headed Hickman in the Superbike standings in the afternoon, with the FHO Racing rider sitting on a 133.851mph, while Michael Dunlop completed the top three on his Hawk Racing Honda at 132.728mph.
Dean Harrison was fourth in the afternoon on his Honda Superbike with a 132.143mph lap, with the 2019 Senior TT winner enduring a disrupted week on that bike.
In the Superstock standings, Dunlop led the way at 132.135mph on his MD Racing Honda, with Harrison second on 131.293mph and Craig Neve at 129.448mph.
Hickman and FHO team-mate Josh Brookes didn’t complete laps on their Superstock BMWs in the afternoon due to an issue.
With action resuming again at 6:30pm local time on Friday evening, nobody could better Hickman as his 134.638mph lap stood as the benchmark.
Hickman completed two laps on his Superstock BMW before switching to his Superbike for a final tour in the session, with the 13-time TT winner going third overall with a 132.863mph effort.
Todd was Hickman’s nearest challenger, setting his best lap of the evening – a 132.976mph lap – on his Superstock BMW, with Dunlop posting the fourth-fastest lap overall at 132.674mph on his Superstock Honda.
Honda’s Harrison held the fifth fastest lap of the evening at 132.596mph, which marked his best of the TT so far. Dunlop’s 132.399mph lap on his Superbike was the sixth-best of the evening.
Michael Dunlop, Hawk Racing Honda
Photo by: iomtt.com
In the Supersport class, Todd set the pace on his Powertoolmate Ducati V2 with a 127.062mph, beating James Hind and Michael Evans, with Harrison and Hickman completing the top five.
Dunlop was a noticeable absence from the Supersport timesheets on Friday evening as he elected to focus on his Supertwin machine in that session.
He holds the best Supersport lap of the week so far at 127.649mph, set on Friday afternoon on a Yamaha R6 having discarded the Triumph he started the event on.
Dunlop led the Supertwin leaderboard at 121.882mph on his Paton, besting Jamie Coward, while Hickman was third on Friday evening ahead of Todd and Mike Browne.
The Sidecar class ended Friday’s qualifying running, though the best lap came in the afternoon session.
The Ryan and Callum Crowe outfit fired in a 119.191mph lap in the afternoon to lead Peter Founds/Jevan Walmsley and Tim Reeves/Mark Wilkes.
Ben Birchall, the reigning Sidecar TT champion, and new passenger Kevin Rousseau suffered an off at Mountain Box in the afternoon. While were OK, they didn’t get out for the evening session.
Isle of Man TT 2024: Overall top 10 after Friday qualifying
1. Peter Hickman, BMW, 134.638mph (Superstock)
2. Davey Todd, BMW, 133.942mph (Superbike)
3. Michael Dunlop, Honda, 132.728mph (Superbike)
4. Dean Harrison, Honda, 132.596mph (Superbike)
5. Josh Brookes, BMW, 131.509mph (Superbike)
6. John McGuinness, Honda, 130.745mph (Superbike)
7. David Johnson, Kawasaki, 130.283mph (Superbike)
8. James Hillier, Honda, 130.048mph (Superstock)
9. Jamie Coward, Honda, 130.024mph (Superstock)
10. Mike Browne, Aprilia, 129.171mph (Superstock)