Honda Racing opens its account at the 2025 Isle of Man TT
The anticipation is over and the 2025 Isle of Man TT is underway, with Honda Racing taking the first track sessions on the 37.730-mile (60.718 km) Mountain Course in its stride. In Wednesday’s first Qualifying session, Dean Harrison went fastest of all on the Honda Fireblade, with an average speed of 133.069 mph, to go top of the Superbike class, crowning a successful start to the team’s TT programme.
Monday’s Practice sessions were rained off, and although persistent showers threatened the Tuesday evening Practice, the track surface dried sufficiently for competitors to make their first exploratory laps.
Harrison, a three-time TT winner in previous years, was able to shake down his Honda CBR600RR that he is competing with in the Supersport class, while both he and 23-time TT-winning team-mate John McGuinness were able to ride out on their production-based Honda Fireblade Superstock machines and their pair of thoroughbred Fireblade Superbikes.
After a clear, dry day on Wednesday, Harrison then led the field out for the first timed Qualifying session on his Fireblade Superbike, treating the crowd to a thunderous roar of the exhaust as he accelerated down Glencrutchery Road. Logging an average speed in excess of 131 mph from a standing start, he then pressed on for his flying lap to set the best time of all the competitors in this year’s event.
McGuinness also showed that he is in fine form with his best lap earning the sixth fastest time at an average speed of 128.031 mph. Both riders then jumped off their Superbikes and onto their Supersport machines to put in a single lap apiece, gaining valuable data for the sessions over the coming days.
Finally, Harrison went out on the Honda CBR600RR to throw down a marker in the Supersport class. His best lap was at an average of 126.436 mph, putting him second to 29-time TT winner Michael Dunlop at the end of this first competitive session.
The action continues on Thursday evening, for a full schedule of the event, please click here
John McGuinness MBE
“On Tuesday night I was cautious when there were still damp patches out there, possibly too cautious but better that than to slide off into the mud. Tonight the conditions were good, nigh on perfect, so I just had a good go, really, and enjoyed it. I did two laps on the Superbike, did a flying lap on that and we’re not a million miles away. And the Superstock with one lap is fine for now. It’s just finding your feet again and all the years of experience don’t prepare you for going off down Glencrutchery Road and Bray Hill for the first time at full speed. Your eyes are on stalks and it’s a shock to the system but we’re alright. I’m not going to be too hard on myself. We’ve just got to sit down with the team, look at a few details and go again tomorrow. We’re in a good place.”
Dean Harrison
“It’s been a good day today, a good start. It’s always good to be the fastest, it lifts the team and tells you that you’re going in the right direction. The Superbike time was good but the bike’s very lively, we need to settle the handling down and make it easier to ride, so that it doesn’t take so much out of me over race distance. The Superstock’s doing well; I only got one lap on it, so I want to get some more laps under my belt, but it’s good to go out on that because it’s very similar to the Superbike so we can try a few things with it. The Supersport is running fine. On the quickest lap that I got in with that, I got held up by loads of people. We just caught loads of people but we made some changes to the handling after yesterday and they went in the right direction. We’re working through everything, I think that between the Superstock and Superbike we’ll end up in a good place and there’s just a couple of little tweaks to try on the Supersport. It’s going well.”
Team Manager Havier Beltran
“It was good for everyone to be able to get out on Tuesday evening and get their first laps in, even if the conditions were tricky. It allowed the riders an opportunity to get a feel for several aspects of the setup that we can work on to get the bikes ready for the competitive sessions and that paid off in what we were able to achieve on Wednesday. It’s always exciting to be back on the Isle of Man and running at the TT, all the more so when we were first away and could hear Dean going up through the gears and we’re working through the programme towards our final race setups for both riders across all three classes.”