Defending TT winner Peter Hickman will go into Friday's fifth and final Superbike qualifying as the rider to beat after topping the Thursday evening session.

Hickman, who focussed on Superstock yesterday, came out swinging with a new fastest lap of the week - 16m 55.181s/133.797mph - on his opening loop with the FHO BMW Superbike and was never headed (his second lap being slightly slower).

Michael Dunlop was also under the 17min barrier from the off. The 21-time TT winner then came close to repeating the feat on his Hawk Honda Superstock machine before switching back to the SBK Fireblade and closing to within just 0.162s of Hickman.

Completing the top three was DAO Kawasaki's Dean Harrison, quickest on Wednesday with a 16m 57.329s/133.514mph lap. Harrison posted a 17m 1.870s/132.921mph best on his Superbike and was a fraction from Dunlop in Superstock.

Hickman was third in Superstock, although his 16m 59.087s/133.284mph from Wednesday remains the best STK lap of the week so far.

As well as Superstock, Dunlop also set the pace in the Supersport, a class where he won both races and set a new lap record last year.

2023 Isle of Man TT - Superbike Qualifying 4 Results (Thursday)
PosRiderBest Lap SpeedBest Lap TimeDifference
1Peter Hickman133.797mph16:55.181 
2Michael Dunlop133.775mph16:55.343+ 0.162s
3Dean Harrison132.921mph17:01.870+ 6.689s
4Davey Todd131.561mph17:12.430+ 17.249s
5Joshua Brookes129.833mph17:26.176+ 30.995s
6James Hillier129.21mph17:31.221+ 36.040s
7Michael Rutter128.86mph17:34.075+ 38.894s
8Phillip Crowe128.822mph17:34.387+ 39.206s
9John McGuinness128.724mph17:35.184+ 40.003s
10David Johnson128.392mph17:37.916+ 42.735s
11Brian McCormack126.965mph17:49.805+ 54.624s
12Shaun Anderson126.02mph17:57.830+ 62.649s
13Dominic Herbertson125.862mph17:59.182+ 64.001s
14Craig Neve125.736mph18:00.267+ 65.086s
15Stephen Smith125.555mph18:01.818+ 66.637s
16Mike Browne125.511mph18:02.200+ 67.019s
17Michael Evans125.194mph18:04.939+ 69.758s
18Samuel West125.099mph18:05.763+ 70.582s
19Julian Trummer124.741mph18:08.877+ 73.696s
20Raul Torras Martinez123.984mph18:15.525+ 80.344s
21James Hind123.91mph18:16.184+ 81.003s
22Stefano Bonetti123.348mph18:21.180+ 85.999s
23Mark Parrett122.935mph18:24.874+ 89.693s
24Forest Dunn121.886mph18:34.386+ 99.205s
25Ryan Cringle121.48mph18:38.113+ 102.932s
26Rhys Hardisty121.445mph18:38.430+ 103.249s
27Mark Goodings121.213mph18:40.571+ 105.390s
28Anthony Redmond120.626mph18:46.029+ 110.848s
29Dave Hewson120.447mph18:47.697+ 112.516s
30James Chawke120.444mph18:47.727+ 112.546s
31Baz Furber120.17mph18:50.294+ 115.113s
32Michael Russell120.108mph18:50.884+ 115.703s
33Timothee Monot119.809mph18:53.700+ 118.519s
34Matthieu Lagrive119.167mph18:59.810+ 124.629s
35Jonathan Perry118.317mph19:08.003+ 132.822s
36Allann Venter118.265mph19:08.501+ 133.320s
37Paul Potchy Williams118.117mph19:09.949+ 134.768s
38Erno Kostamo115.536mph19:35.633+ 160.452s
39Xavier Denis115.355mph19:37.482+ 162.301s
40Amalric Blanc113.069mph20:01.289+ 186.108s
41Jamie Coward---
42Rob Hodson---
43Rennie Scaysbrook---
  • Outright (Superbike) TT lap record: Peter Hickman (BMW), 16m 42.778s, 135.452mph/217.989km/h (2018).
  • Superstock TT lap record: Peter Hickman (BMW), 16m 50.601s, 134.403mph/216.301km/h (2018).
  • Supersport TT lap record: Michael Dunlop (Yamaha), 17m 29.070s, 129.475mph/208.370km/h (2022)
  • Supertwin TT lap record: Michael Dunlop (Paton), 18m 26.543s, 122.750mph/197.547km/h (2018)
2023 Isle of Man TT - Superstock Qualifying 4 Results (Thursday)
PosRiderBest Lap SpeedBest Lap TimeDifference
1Michael Dunlop132.728mph17:03.356 
2Dean Harrison132.7mph17:03.572+ 0.216s
3Peter Hickman131.952mph17:09.371+ 6.015s
4James Hillier130.195mph17:23.263+ 19.907s
5Mike Browne129.104mph17:32.078+ 28.722s
6John McGuinness128.821mph17:34.395+ 31.039s
7David Johnson127.465mph17:45.608+ 42.252s
8Craig Neve126.097mph17:57.174+ 53.818s
9Phillip Crowe125.956mph17:58.380+ 55.024s
10Brian McCormack125.664mph18:00.884+ 57.528s
11Michael Rutter123.222mph18:22.306+ 78.950s
12Erno Kostamo117.463mph19:16.345+ 132.989s
13David Datzer111.927mph20:13.544+ 190.188s

 

2023 Isle of Man TT - Supersport Qualifying 4 Results (Thursday)
PosRiderBest Lap SpeedBest Lap TimeDifference
1Michael Dunlop127.557mph17:44.844 
2Jamie Coward124.675mph18:09.459+ 24.615s
3James Hind124.553mph18:10.526+ 25.682s
4James Hillier122.726mph18:26.755+ 41.911s
5Dean Harrison122.518mph18:28.639+ 43.795s
6Craig Neve122.036mph18:33.015+ 48.171s
7Pierre Yves Bian121.65mph18:36.547+ 51.703s
8Michael Evans121.449mph18:38.391+ 53.547s
9Joey Thompson121.086mph18:41.748+ 56.904s
10Shaun Anderson120.651mph18:45.795+ 60.951s
11Raul Torras Martinez120.431mph18:47.847+ 63.003s
12Michal Dokoupil120.323mph18:48.865+ 64.021s
13Stefano Bonetti118.959mph19:01.803+ 76.959s
14Brian Mccormack118.448mph19:06.733+ 81.889s
15Rhys Hardisty118.421mph19:06.991+ 82.147s
16Jonathan Goetschy118.186mph19:09.268+ 84.424s
17Tom Weeden118.16mph19:09.524+ 84.680s
18Amalric Blanc117.685mph19:14.164+ 89.320s
19Forest Dunn117.595mph19:15.051+ 90.207s
20Baz Furber117.478mph19:16.195+ 91.351s
21James Chawke117.389mph19:17.077+ 92.233s
22Mark Goodings116.912mph19:21.799+ 96.955s
23Jamie Cringle116.843mph19:22.486+ 97.642s
24Gary Vines116.778mph19:23.129+ 98.285s
25Allann Venter116.563mph19:25.270+ 100.426s
26Stephen Parsons116.462mph19:26.285+ 101.441s
27Timothee Monot116.16mph19:29.322+ 104.478s
28Mark Parrett115.799mph19:32.967+ 108.123s
29Paul Potchy Williams115.455mph19:36.454+ 111.610s
30Michael Russell114.79mph19:43.278+ 118.434s
31Martin Morris114.62mph19:45.025+ 120.181s
32Paul Cassidy113.088mph20:01.083+ 136.239s
33Jorge Halliday112.932mph20:02.737+ 137.893s
34David Brook112.722mph20:04.978+ 140.134s
35Jack Petrie112.568mph20:06.634+ 141.790s
36Masayuki Yamanaka112.301mph20:09.501+ 144.657s
37Xavier Denis111.449mph20:18.741+ 153.897s
38Craig Szczypek111.237mph20:21.064+ 156.220s
39Jonathan Perry111.083mph20:22.758+ 157.914s
40Rob Hodson---
41Paul Jordan---
42Dominic Herbertson---

New Tracks for 2024? Your Questions Answered | Crash MotoGP Podcast Episode 91