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.

TT 2012 roars into life

After the big countdown and months of anticipation TT 2012 roars into life today (Saturday).

Bikers have started arriving in their droves, just some of the 11,200 machines the Steam Packet is carrying this year, its highest number for a decade.

And right from the off they're being treated to some closed road action.

Tonight sees the first TT practice session, which is untimed and for solo and sidecar newcomers and the lightweight class.

The Mountain Road closes at 5pm, the rest of the course at 6pm.

Before all that though, there's practice and then the first race of the Blackfords Pre-TT Classic.

Roads around the Billown Circuit will be closed between 12.30pm and 4.10pm, with practice taking up the majority of the session.

The highlight of today's programme is the 250/350cc Singles race at 3.10pm.

The one-way system on the Mountain Road is already in place, having been introduced yesterday afternoon.

It will remain one way for the duration of TT fortnight.


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