If you're a racer, know racers, or you've spent any amount of time watching motorsports, you know that racers usually tend to want just one thing: To race. It sounds almost too simple to be real, but when you start to consider all the factors that have to go right for that to happen, you begin to understand the possible points of difficulty.
Back in 2010, Ian Hutchinson (who's more popularly known as Hutchy to road racing fans) became the first ever Isle of Man TT racer to scoop five race wins in a single week of racing. He raced across multiple classes, and to this day, he's still the only racer to have ever accomplished that feat.
Now that it's 2024, Hutchy is about to have that chance yet again. After being sidelined in 2023 following a stroke that the extremely fit rider suffered during training earlier in the year, Hutchinson has been cleared to race at the 2024 IOMTT. He has reunited with the Milenco by Padgett's Motorcycles team, which is also the team he was with during that unforgettable week back in 2010.
Since that stunning week in 2010, Hutchinson went on to rack up a total of 16 TT wins to his name. That puts him firmly in fifth place in the rankings of top TT winners of all time, only behind Joey Dunlop (26), Michael Dunlop (25), John McGuinness (23), and Dave Molyneux (17).
He'll be racing two machines this year. The first is the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP in the RST Superbike, RL360 Superstock, and Milwaukee Senior TT races. The second is the new Honda CBR600RR in the two Monster Energy Supersport races.
“I’m really pleased to be back with Clive and the team. I think that the way that I work and the team works just fits right. Clive puts together a bike you know you can get on and ride fast straightaway. With injuries, COVID and missing last year, I don’t feel as though I’ve had a good run at the TT since 2017 and so it’s ideal to be with the team that can let me get the laps which is what I need," Hutchinson said in a statement.
“We’ve already been out testing in Spain and we’re back out again to Portugal and Spain in the next few weeks, plus we’ve plenty more track time in the run up to TT so I’m really looking forward to what 2024 can bring," he added.
