ISLE OF MAN — Dean Harrison won the opening Superbike race at the 2026 Isle of Man TT on June 1, 2026. He completed the race in 1:43:08.867 with an average speed of 131.681mph, finishing 15.580 seconds ahead of Peter Hickman.
Harrison started third on the road and led by 4.8 seconds over Michael Dunlop at the first timing line at Glen Helen. He completed his first lap from a standing start at an average speed of 134.892mph and held a 12-second advantage over Dunlop and Hickman after lap one, with less than a second separating the two riders behind him.
By the time Harrison reached Ramsey on the second lap, his lead had grown to 20 seconds. After pit stops at the end of the second lap, he extended that margin to 28 seconds. On the fourth lap, Hickman and Dunlop exchanged second place multiple times before Hickman pulled ahead with a pit stop four seconds faster than Dunlop’s, securing his position to the finish.
Hickman finished second, 12.416 seconds clear of Dunlop, who switched to a Honda Superbike at the last minute after encountering issues with his planned Ducati. Josh Brookes placed fourth and John McGuinness fifth, riding a Honda with special livery marking the 30th anniversary of his TT debut.
“I'm over the moon. I went hard at the start to try and make a buffer. I've felt strong all week,” Harrison said on TT Plus. “It's hard to keep your concentration over six laps, it's so physical. We'll try again later in the week and hopefully there's a few more to come.”
Harrison posted the fastest Superbike and Superstock speeds in final qualifying on Friday, lapping at 134.877mph on his Honda Superbike in the morning and 135.484mph on his Superstock machine in the afternoon—the fastest overall speed of the week. Peter Hickman, Josh Brookes, and Michael Dunlop were his closest challengers in Superbike qualifying, all recording laps in the 132mph range.
“I'm just happy to be here. It has been a long way to get here. I'm not quite feeling me yet, but I'm starting to get there,” Hickman said in a podcast interview. Dunlop acknowledged Harrison’s performance, stating, “We knew it was going to be hard work. You need to bring your 'A game' to beat Dean on the big bike at the minute and he has played it smart.” He also noted, “We left it too late to be here and it's my own fault.” Dunlop added, “It's been really tough with the big bikes this week. We know what the problem is, but there's not much we can do to solve it.”
The next races scheduled are the Supersport and Sportbike TTs on Tuesday, June 2. This victory marked Harrison’s sixth win at the Isle of Man TT.