TT 2016: Mar-Train Racing apologise over Michael Dunlop exclusion

Dunlop finished as the runner-up behind Ian Hutchinson but was later disqualified due to a technical infringement.

A statement issued by ACU Events Ltd said: “Michael Dunlop has been excluded from the results for a technical infringement identified during post race examination.

“ACU Events Ltd do not believe that there was a deliberate attempt to gain an unfair advantage and no significant performance advantage was gained.”

Later, the Lisburn-based Mar-Train Racing team issued an official statement confirming they had supplied Dunlop with the engine for his Yamaha R6 and apologised for an ‘oversight’.

The statement read: “Mar-Train Racing can confirm that they supplied Michael Dunlop and MD Racing with a Yamaha R6 engine for today’s Monster Energy Supersport TT.

“The illegal element within this engine was a set of coated cam buckets, which had been legal two years ago when the engine was originally built. This has been a spare engine and as such was fully refreshed to again be our spare engine for the 2016 TT.

“An oversight due in part to personnel changes in the team as well as a change in engine builder has meant that this obvious irregularity was missed,” the statement added.

“Our crew-chief mistakenly assumed that this engine had seen use in 2015 and that it would be in compliance with the rules. Our engine builder, subsequently, and in good faith, refreshed and prepared the engine as he received it.

“We trust that anyone who knows the team, including the TT technical inspectors, will understand that this embarrassing oversight does not reflect the specification of machine we usually put on the grid. It goes without saying that the rider being excluded from the results could very well have been our own in this instance.

“We are gutted for Michael, his team and sponsors and can only apologise for this oversight on our behalf. We fully understand the effort that goes into achieving a TT podium and can therefore appreciate just how they must feel right now.”

Engine builder Shane Wogan, of Wogan performance, added: “We are devastated that Michael Dunlop and the MD Racing team have been disqualified over an issue that we as a business completely overlooked.

“We would like to apologies to Mar-Train Racing, Michael, MD Racing and the technical inspectors for the inconvenience we have caused.”

Another rider, Rod Hodson – who finished 14th –was also excluded from the results when his machine was found to have a ‘significantly oversized engine’.