TT 2022: Hickman raises the bar to 133mph

Gas Monkey Garage BMW’s Peter Hickman moved the bar again during Thursday night practice, putting in a 132.220mph lap from a standing start but his second lap was cut short due to a lack of fuel in the M1000RR.

Hickman was almost seven seconds ahead of Dean Harrison’s DAO Kawasaki as the reigning Senior champion set a 132.333 for second place with Davey Todd again third on a 132.187.

The Louth rider also topped the leaderboard for the Superstock and Supertwin classes, at 129.910mph and 120.994mph respectively on his BMW and VAS Engine Racing Paton, but it was close in the latter with Michael Dunlop just 0.2s slower on his Paton. The Ulsterman had the consolation of being quickest in the Supersport category after lapping at 126.662mph on his MD Racing Yamaha.

Conditions all around the course were described as good and with cloud cover rather than bright sunshine, the visibility was excellent as the solo session kicked off at 7.25pm. James Hillier (RICH Energy OMG Racing) was first away with Hickman, Dean Harrison (DAO Racing Kawasaki), Michael Rutter (Bathams Ales) and Ian Hutchinson (Milwaukee BMW Motorrad) quickly following. As per previous nights, Hickman, Harrison and Davey Todd (Milenco by Padgett’s Motorcycles) were the riders setting the pace but it was again Hickman who was impressing the most and he crossed the line first after lapping at a superb 133.22mph. That was 6.83s quicker than Harrison’s 132.333mph with Todd just 1.1s further back after posting his best lap of the Mountain Course to date, 132.187mph. Michael Dunlop slotted into fourth on the Hawk Racing Suzuki at 131.44mph, his best lap of the week so far, with Conor Cummins on the second Padgett’s machine, the fifth and final rider to lap in excess of