Davey Todd said his victory in the Superbike race at the Isle of Man TT has given the 8TEN Racing BMW team a much-needed lift ahead of the Senior finale in the wake of Peter Hickman’s crash in qualifying.

Fourteen-time winner Hickman, the 136mph outright lap record-holder around the Mountain Course, was ruled out of the event after crashing at Kerrowmoar last Friday evening.

Hickman is on the road to recovery after the red-flag incident, which the 38-year-old said occurred at around 140mph after an issue with the exhaust bracket on his BMW, which reportedly dropped onto his rear wheel and punctured the tyre.

He suffered back, chest, shoulder and facial injuries in the crash but was released from hospital on Sunday and was in the winners enclosure to congratulate Todd after his narrow victory over Michael Dunlop in the four-lap race, which he won by just under 1.3 seconds.

placeholder image — Superbike TT race winner Davey Todd celebrates his win with injured team-mate Peter Hickman and the 8TEN Racing BMW team. (Picture by Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press)

“It was just exactly what we needed,” said Todd, who co-owns the team with Hickman.

“The team deserve that for all the work that everybody’s put in over the last three months setting up this team, and building it from the ground up – Peter included.

“He has done so much work to make this happen and we definitely couldn’t have done it without him, so I’m grateful to him and the whole Monster Energy 8TEN Racing BMW team – they’ve done a fantastic job to even get us here. Hopefully I’m on the way to repaying them.”

Todd won the blue riband Senior race for the first time in 2024 on the Milwaukee BMW and will be aiming to retain his crown in the six-lap showpiece on Saturday.

He lapped at 135.416mph in the Superbike race, with Dunlop marginally quicker on the ROKiT BMW at 135.416mph.

However, Todd is confident he has something in reserve for the Senior race, which is currently scheduled for 10:45 BST on Saturday, although there is every possibility the race could be pushed back until later in the day with rain forecast throughout the morning.

“I knew I had a little bit more in hand and if I needed to use it then I could,” said Todd of Monday’s Superbike opener.

“I felt like I was in that position and I didn’t really want to stick my neck out in that race – every time we go on track we’re in different conditions, the track’s changing every single time we go out, so we’re going in blind.

“I wanted to take it a little bit steady because the track’s not rubbered in with all the rain we’ve had, so considering that the lap times are pretty good.

“I knew we could do that kind of lap time and we’ll be a lot stronger if the conditions improve.”