Peter Hickman’s quest for a record-breaking six wins on the 2022 Isle of Man TT gets underway later today as he starts Saturday’s Superbike TT as the hot favourite.
The Louth rider has been in momentum building form across the four solo classes he is contesting, topping three of them - Superbike, Superstock and Supertwins - after six days of qualifying practice, while he sits fifth in the Supersport reckoning.
The bookies tip on the Gas Monkey FHO Racing BMW M 1000 RR he will ride in Superbike and Superstock, Hickman achieved his fastest speeds on Thursday with a 133.220mph effort, making him the only rider to exceed 133mph-plus.
However, he came surprisingly close to this on Friday evening with a 132.874mph - which itself was comfortably quicker than second place man Dean Harrison’s best of the week - despite admitting to rolling off in several areas that were damp.
With perfect conditions forecast for today’s Superbike TT, while Hickman is loath to say he is ‘confident’ of notching up another victory, he admits the event has been ‘so far, so good’.
“It’s been a good week of qualifying and although we’ve had a few little issues here and there with the bikes to begin with, the boys have all worked hard to rectify them and I was more than happy with the 133mph+ lap.
“I was equally as happy with Friday evening’s lap as conditions were far from ideal and I was rolling off all the way through the damp patches so it bodes well for the opening Superbike race. You can never be too confident at the TT bit it’s definitely been a case of so far, so good.”
As well as leading the way in Superbike and Superstock, Hickman held a slight advantage over Michael Dunlop in the Supertwins category aboard an identical Paton.
