3 June 2016 - Road Racing 2016 Honda Racing in the mix at the Isle of Man TT Isle of Man TT, TT, Isle of Man

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3 June 2016 - Road #Racing 2016 @Honda $Racing in the mix at the #IsleofManTT @IsleofManTT, #TT, $IsleofMan



This week the 2016 Isle of Man TT races kicked off with glorious conditions around the 37.73-mile Mountain circuit. Honda Racing’s John McGuinness and Conor Cummins have finished the week’s practice third and fifth fastest aboard their Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP machines.
With near-perfect conditions every day since practice started on Saturday (28 May), the Superbikes first took to Glencrutchery Road on Monday with early impressive lap times from the Honda duo.
Continuing to mean business throughout the rest of the week’s practice and in preparation for tomorrow’s six-lap RST Superbike race, McGuinness, while on a flying lap in Thursday’s session, clocked a 131.12mph lap. Team-mate Cummins was just outside the 130mph barrier, posting a 129.99mph lap.
Tonight’s final session saw the pair run race engines ahead of tomorrow and concentrate on feeling with both Fireblade machines; McGuinness completed one lap, while Cummins put in a second lap after making a small suspension change. At the end of practice McGuinness finished third fastest overall and Cummins fifth.
The six-lap RST Superbike race is scheduled for tomorrow (Saturday 4 June) at 11am.
Honda, the Fireblade and McGuinness have a strong history at the Isle of Man TT with 23 wins each. The overall lap record is still held by McGuinness after he smashed the record in last year’s Senior TT with a 132.701mph lap, the Superstock lap record is also held by the Fireblade with Michael Dunlop in 2013 (131.220mph lap). The Fireblade also boasts 50 Isle of Man TT podiums since 2006 to its name.







Neil Tuxworth
Team Manager
The key thing this week has been the excellent weather that we have had here on the Isle of Man, the first time in over ten years, which has allowed us to try everything we have needed to. We have had no problems with the Fireblades and it’s been a case of final adjustments, we do a lot of our testing and set-up before we get to the TT with our pre-season test programme and we’ve had the North West 200 so we had a basic setting for both machines before we arrived. Both John and Conor are happy with how the week has gone and we’re in the ball-park, we’re in the top-six and of course the grid positions are already decided by the start numbers. The main thing is that everything has run smoothly and we’re in a strong position with both riders ahead of tomorrow’s Superbike race.
- Honda Racing






John McGuinness 1
We’ve had practice every night this year and have managed to get some really solid laps in during each session. Everything has been working faultlessly and we’re in the mix, I did a lap time of 131.1mph yesterday, which isn’t as quick as the other two but I’m happy with that and we’re in the ball-park. We’ve to do six strong laps tomorrow and have two good pit stops for the race and hopefully we won’t be too far away. I’m feeling confident and relaxed and looking forward to the race.
- Honda Racing






Conor Cummins 10
I’m happy with how tonight has ended, I think we’ve found a good setting with the Fireblade now, I had originally planned just to do one lap tonight, but with the small change we made I went out again and am happy with where we are now. I think we can now go forward tomorrow and stick in some good laps! Full credit to my team who have been working so hard to give me the right package with the Fireblade and I’m now just looking forward to getting out there for the race and doing those six laps.
- Honda Racing