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Opening 2024 Isle of Man TT race day schedule delayed by road traffic accident

The first 2024 TT race day was already hit with a schedule change owing to Thursday evening’s qualifying practice being cancelled due to a road traffic accident.

This prompted the organisers to alter Saturday’s schedule, adding a two-lap Superbike/Superstock qualifying for 10:30am local time.

The opening race of the event, the first four-lap Supersport contest, was due to get under way at 1:30pm local time, followed by the first three-lap Sidecar race at 4pm local time.

The Clerk of the Course initially announced that Saturday’s schedule had been hit with a one-hour delay.

According to a TT spokesperson, there has been a road traffic accident over the mountain which requires the sweepers to clear up debris.

However, at 10:40am BST, a second delay was announced and a new schedule announced.

Roads around the island will now close at 11:30am, with the Superbike/Superstock qualifying session taking place at 12pm.

The Supersport race will get going at 2:45pm now, with the Sidecar contest taking place at 5:15pm.

No reductions have been made to the lap counts for each race, with Supersport being staged over four tours and Sidecar over three.

Michael Dunlop Senior (Photo by: ttracesofficial/Pacemaker Press)

The organisers have until 9:30pm BST before the roads have to be reopened.

Racing will continue on Sunday with the opening six-lap Superbike race of the event, which is schedule for 2:40pm local time.

Reigning Senior TT winner Peter Hickman heads into Saturday’s race day as the rider to beat, after posting a lap of 134.638mph on Friday evening aboard his FHO Racing Superstock BMW.

On Saturday, Michael Dunlop has a chance to make more TT history in the Supersport race as he currently sits one win away from the all-time record set by late uncle Joey of 26.

Dunlop won both Supersport races on his MD Racing Yamaha in 2023 and set the pace in class during practice week, having switched back to a Yamaha R6 after starting the event on a Triumph.

Joey Dunlop's record of 26 TT wins has stood since 2000.

Ten races will be run across the next week, with two Superbike contests (including the Senior TT finale), two Supersport, two Superstock, two Supertwin and two Sidecar races. A second Supertwin and Superstock race was added to the schedule from last year.

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