Follow the latest updates live from the final day at the Isle of Man TT as the blue-riband Senior TT takes place to wrap up the week’s action.
A bumper day of racing on Thursday saw Peter Hickman take his win tally to five TT’s as he claimed both the second supersport race and the Superstock TT, the latter in dominant fashion. Michael Dunlop registered his 19th TT victory by winning the Lightweight race with Michael Rutter claiming the spoils in the TT Zero, while the Birchall brothers Ben and Tom claimed seventh consecutive sidecar race.
But today is all about the Senior TT where Hickman will bid to become just the third man to win four TT races in a week, with Dean Harrison, Conor Cummins and Dunlop out to stop him. Follow the live updates below.
Welcome to The Independent's live coverage of today's Isle of Man TT action, where the Senior TT takes centre stage to wrap up the week's racing.
Not only will riders be racing each other today, but they will be racing the skies as rain in the form of Storm Miguel is due to arrive at lunchtime, which could threaten the final laps of the six-lap Senior TT. Thankfully, it's clear blue skies this morning, so we should be away on time for the 10am start, which has been brought forward by four-and-a-half hours in order to get a full race in.
BREAKING
A 15-minute delay has been announced to the start time, which pushes us further into that rain window this afternoon and makes a four-lap race all the more likely.
With a bit of extra time before we get underway, let's take a look back on yesterday's phenomenal action.
We began with the second supersport race of the week as Peter Hickman finally secured his first 600cc victory following another battle with rival Dean Harrison.
Next up came the second sidecar race and it was yet another victory for Ben and Tom Birchall, with the brothers securing their seventh consecutive victory and 10th overall to cement their status as the dominant sidecar outfit of their generation.
But once the solos got back underway, it was business as usual for Hickman as he powered to Superstock victory, winning by a mammoth 26 seconds over Harrison, with Honda's David Johnson taking a popular third place for his first TT podium.
The Lightweight TT followed where Michael Dunlop returned to the top step of the podium after a two-lap battle with Jamie Coward.
A clearly emotional Dunlop spoke afterwards of his struggles returning to road racing since the death of his brother William, and there were a few tears in the paddock last night as the 50th TT win for the Dunlop family was recorded.
The day wrapped up with the fifth and final race in the form of the all-electric TT Zero, where old-stagers Michael Rutter and John McGuinness battled it out on the Mugens. In the end it was Rutter who emerged victorious ahead of 23-time TT winner McGuinness by eight seconds, meaning it will likely be another year without a TT win for McGuinness as he continues to recover from a serious leg injury suffered in 2017.
Just 15 minutes until the Senior TT gets underway!
So the good news is the Met Office reports that the expected rain predicted later on has pushed back to a mid-afternoon arrival, giving us a longer window to get the race in.
The bad news is that we've seen a number of reports of drops of rain around the 37.73-mile course, and we're hoping that's all it is in order to get this full six-lapper in the bag.
Dunlop Senior TT start list
1. Conor Cummins (Honda)
2. Dean Harrison (Kawasaki)
3. John McGuinness (Norton)
4. Ian Hutchinson (Honda)
5. James Hillier (Kawasaki)
6. Michael Dunlop (BMW)
7. Gary Johnson (Kawasaki)
8. Michael Rutter (Honda)
9. David Johnson (Honda)
10. Peter Hickman (BMW)
11. Lee Johnston (BMW)
13. Sam West (BMW)
14. Phil Crowe (BMW)
15. Jamie Coward (Yamaha)
16. Derek Shiels (Suzuki)
17. Shaun Anderson (Suzuki)
18. Davey Todd (BMW)
20. Dominic Herbertson (Kawasaki)
Dunlop Senior TT
Confirmation from the horse's mouth: Peter Hickman is running the full blown Smiths Racings superbike, mainly because the scrutineers stripped down his superstock bike following the win yesterday resulting in the bike being left in pieces. He's only run two laps on the superbike all fortnight, and given the reliability issues they've had with the BMW, can it be expected to last six laps?
Dunlop Senior TT
1 minute to go...
Dunlop Senior TT
And they're away!
Dunlop Senior TT
Lap 1: Cummins gets the Senior underway, before Harrison and the howling Norton of McGuinness follow him towards St Ninians and down Bray Hill.
Dunlop Senior TT
Lap 1: The No 11 spot is empty as Lee Johnston has withdrawn due to a late mechanical issue.
Dunlop Senior TT
Lap 1: Harrison's off to a flier and he's taken five seconds already out of the gap to Cummins on the road. Hutchinson and McGuinness are through Glen Helen but as you'd expect, they're not challenging at the fron. Strangely, neither is Hillier, with the Kawasaki the slowest to the checkpoint and already behind Dunlop. He must have had a moment or something go wrong as that's very unusual for Hillier. Hickman's through and takes the lead, but by just 0.351s with Cummins and Dunlop battling for third.
Dunlop Senior TT
Lap 1: Harrison's on Cummins' tail at Ballaugh and he could well pass him on the run to Ramsey if he gets a chance. The Silicone Engineering Kawasaki star had high hopes for this race after a strong Thursday, and he's certainly leaving it all out there this morning. Hickman's through...and Harrison leads! He has a 0.185s gap to the Smiths Racing BMW.
Cummins has a second lead on Dunlop for third and that's going to be an excellent battle to watch play out over the Mountain.
Dunlop Senior TT
Lap 1: Fresh from his podium in yesterday's Superstock TT, David Johnson is off to a strong start today and is just three seconds off fourth-placed Dunlop. However, he has Hickman right behind him at Ballaugh.
Dunlop Senior TT
Lap 1: Harrison is indeed ahead of Cummins on the road, having made up 10 seconds in just half a lap! Dunlop is catching Cummins, with just 0.024s between them at the Ramsey Hairpin!
Hickman retakes the lead as he comes through 0.118s faster than Harrison!
Dunlop Senior TT
Lap 1: So up into Hickman territory we go, where Dunlop has also been particularly strong this week. Harrison is through the Bungalow first with his best sector time of the entire week, and Cummins is struggling to stay with him having fallen nearly three seconds behind. Cummins has pulled a bit of time on Dunlop though to push his advantage to 0.896.
Hickman's through and leads by 1.066s, so while that's faster from Hickman, that's a strong time from Harrison to keep him in touch.
Oh, and by the way, we might be on for a 133mph lap from a standing start here!
What time does it start?
Friday’s Isle of Man TT gets underway at 10am.
How can I follow it?
Races are not shown live from the TT, so the best way to follow the action as it happens is with local radio or The Independent’s live blog throughout the event. Radio coverage is provided by Manx Radio over the fortnight, while live timing is available through the official www.iomttraces.com website.
Schedule
10am: Senior TT
