Isle of Man TT stars say John McGuinness is still too fast to be replaced

23-time Isle of Man TT winner John McGuinness has been backed by Honda Racing UK team-mate Dean Harrison, and Davey Todd, to keep his place on a full factory CBR1000RR-R in 2027.

This comes after McGuinness posted his fastest ever six-lap race time at the TT in May, which took place in the Superbike race.

More recently, McGuinness rolled back the years by securing his first road racing win in seven years, after dominating the Historic Senior Classic TT race last week. 

What these performances have shown us is that McGuinness remains exceptionally fast, and that there’s no clear replacement for him at Honda, either. 

Harrison remains Honda Racing UK’s main hope when it comes to winning races at the TT, however, McGuinness is continuing to prove that he’s one of the top five or six fastest road racers in the world. 

So why would Honda potentially replace him? Or, a better question might be, why would McGuinness retire despite being 54 years of age?

Both of those questions have already been answered in the minds of Harrison and Todd, with both riders saying McGuinness deserves his current seat at Honda. 

Speaking on the TT’s latest Between the Hedges episode, which is available to watch on the TT+ streaming service, or on the Isle of Man TT’s YouTube channel, Harrison said: 

“I don’t think he’s doing himself any disservice; I think he’s doing himself proud almost because he’s doing 132mph still, he’s top-six every time he’s out there and he’s holding his own. There’s people that are further down the field that are nearly half his age and should probably be nipping at his heels a little bit. As long as he’s doing that, who else is going to take his ride?

“Realistically, who’s going faster than him on the grid that’s going to get his ride and take that ride to the next place?”

Todd offered very similar praise as Harrison, adding: 

“I don’t think there’s anybody else who deserves his seat at Honda. That’s something that’s been talked about a lot, is that a younger, up and coming rider should take his seat, but I don’t think anybody’s going to do as good a job as John’s doing now.

“He did his fastest ever six laps this year – faster than he’s ever gone before in a six-lap race – how can you ask someone to retire when they’re still doing their personal best and still actually loving it.”

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