What next for Dunlop after Ducatideal for NW200 and TT falls apart?

The Ballymoney man was due to ride the factory-supported Italian Panigale V4R for Paul Bird’s British Superbike squad at the North West 200 and TT, but Dunlop’s claims that things have not gone as expected means he is now on the lookout for alternative machinery in the blue riband class.

The 33-year-old, who was supposed to ride the Ducati in 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic struck, said he was frustrated by a lack of testing on the bike.

Former World Superbike champion Tom Sykes joined the BSB line-up in Bird’s team alongside Josh Brookes for 2022, and the focus has very much been geared towards the start of the championship after a lacklustre year by PBM standards in 2021.

For Dunlop, an apparent lack of commitment set alarm bells ringing and he was unsatisfied with the situation to the extent that he has decided to cut his losses.

And as he pointed out himself, it is better to sever those ties now than half-way through the TT festival – a controversial scenario that unfolded in 2015 when Dunlop ditched the Milwaukee Yamaha R1 he was supposed to ride for Shaun Muir in the Superbike and Senior races.

On that occasion, he was thrown a lifeline by Stuart and Steve Hicken’s Hawk Racing team to ride a BMW S1000RR. Dunlop has a good relationship with the Hickens and they have enjoyed plenty of success on the roads together, most memorably in 2014 when he rode a factory BMW S1000RR to victory at the North West 200 and again at the TT, where he delivered a prestigious big-bike double for the German manufacturer 75 years on from Georg Meier’s BMW triumph in the 1939 Senior.

Dunlop also won the Superbike and Senior TT races on a Hawk BMW in 2016 and remained with the Hickens for 2017, when he retained the Senior silverware