Michael Dunlop: Last year proved I should have a lot more Superbike wins at Isle of Man TT after record lap running standard engine
Michael Dunlop says his fastest ever lap around the Isle of Man TT course in 2024 using a ‘standard’ Honda engine in the Superbike race has shown that he has plenty more left in the tank.
The Northern Ireland rider clocked the fastest lap of last year’s TT at 135.970mph on the Hawk Racing Honda but finished fourth in the race after an issue with an incorrectly fastened visor wiped out his race-winning lead at the start of the penultimate lap.
Dunlop dramatically had to stop at the top of Bray Hill to remedy the problem before rejoining the race.
He won four races in all last June to break his uncle Joey’s long-standing record of 26 victories, increasing his tally to 29 wins with doubles in the Supersport and Supertwin classes.
The 35-year-old won eight Superbike races throughout his TT career, including three in the blue riband Senior race, but Dunlop – who has also won three Superstock races – feels he should have even more victories in the feature class under his belt.
“[Last] year proved to me that I probably should have had a lot more of them and I feel like I’m faster than I ever was, breaking the Superbike lap record, and I feel like there is a lot more speed in me too,” said Dunlop, whose most recent win in the class was in the Superbike TT in 2023.
“To be honest I think there’s a lot more to come on the Superbike. Last year we did the whole TT with standard engines – Superbike chassis and standard engines – because as you know from BSB, Honda were having issues with tuning engines and we were winning races against what you would call factory BMWs with tuned engines, and we all know how quick they are – and the riders often.
“I’ve probably, since really 2014, not had full Superbike engines. When the Suzuki came out we had to detune them because we broke crankshafts and that’s what happened in the first race [Superbike TT in 2017], so we had to detune it,” added Dunlop, speaking at the recent MCN London Motorcycle Show, where he was named MCN’s Rider of the Year for 2024.
“So I’ve never probably been on anything that’s a [proper] Superbike; well that’s probably a lie, in 2016 we had a BMW engine [when Dunlop won the Superbike and Senior TT races on the Hawk Racing S1000RR] but after that they were all standard engines.”
The Ballymoney rider is finalising his plans for 2025 but has been linked with a return to BMW power on an M1000RR and has tested a Ducati Panigale V2 Supersport machine, which he is due to ride at the Daytona 200 in March.