The 2012 TT races officially blast off this evening with the opening practice session on the legendary Mountain Course.

Solo newcomers will be out first tonight on a speed controlled lap of the iconic 37.73-mile circuit, with practice scheduled to commence at 6.20pm.

A qualifying session will then be held for the Lightweight Supertwin class and solo newcomers, followed by a controlled lap for Sidecar newcomers and a free qualifying session for Sidecar machines.

Northern Ireland’s Ryan Farquhar won the Supertwin race at the North West 200 last week on a glorious day for his KMR Kawasaki team, with Jeremy McWilliams and Michael Rutter ensuring clean sweep of the top three positions.


Farquhar will be out on his ER6 machine this evening and admits it will be a fairy-tale success if he manages to add a TT victory in the Supertwin class to his NW200 triumph on the Island.

“I’m not getting too far ahead of myself but I’ll be trying to win it,” he said.

“People have me down as the favourite but there are plenty of good riders entered and it’s not going to be easy.

“I’m really excited about the TT this year and I think I’ll go better at the TT than I did at the North West,” he added.

TT legend John McGuinness starts as the big favourite for more success in the premier class following his double a year ago.

McGuinness has amassed 17 wins on the Mountain Course and will take some stopping on the Honda TT Legends Fireblade.

Tyco Suzuki’s Guy Martin is chasing his maiden TT victory, while Michael Dunlop can’t be ruled out in any class as he aims to add to his Supersport (2009) and Superstock (2011) wins.

William Dunlop is tipped for success in the Supersport class and also expects to challenge on the bigger capacity bikes, but the opposition is fearsome, with Bruce Anstey, Gary Johnson, Cameron Donald, Ian Hutchinson and Conor Cummins all craving success at the TT.