TT 2025: 'Two races, two victories - we've done what we came to do' says Michael Dunlop after Supersport double on Ducati
Michael Dunlop says it was a case of job done after taking on a new challenge in the Supersport class at this year’s Isle of Man TT on a Ducati Panigale V2.
The Ulster rider sealed a double in the Monster Energy Supersport races with a commanding performance on Wednesday, with Dunlop clinching a record-extending 32nd win around the Mountain Course on the Italian machine, which was decked out in a different yellow livery. He has wrapped up a terrific treble this week, with three more races still to come.
It was the 36-year-old’s eighth consecutive Supersport win at the TT and his 15th in total, with six of those successive victories achieved on a Yamaha R6.
Dunlop – unbeaten in the class since 2022 – delivered Ducati’s first victories at the TT in 30 years, with Rob Holden the last rider to win for the manufacturer in the Singles race in 1995.
His winning margin in the four-lap encounter was 26.18s over Honda Racing’s Dean Harrison, with Davey Todd 15.85s further adrift in third on the Milenco by Padgett’s Honda.
Dunlop, celebrating his 49th podium at the TT – two more than previous record-holder John McGuinness – set the fastest lap of the race at 129.297mph on lap two.
He managed a 130mph lap in the first Supersport race but strong winds over the Mountain on Wednesday may have impacted his chances of breaking his lap record.
“I just think you have to be fast, especially on a 600 you have to hold a reasonable amount of corner speed,” Dunlop said of his unprecedented Supersport success.
“It suits my riding style and the Ducati has been here before [with Davey Todd in 2024], so we knew it was capable of doing something.
“It’s just a big challenge for me to take on something completely different but it’s obviously played out – two races, two victories.
“It’s been good and if I don’t win another race this week… I want to still win races and I wanted to come here and get into the thirties, and we’re into the thirties.
“I’ve got three more races to have a go at and I will definitely be having a go – it won’t be for the lack of trying, so we’ll see what happens.”
Explaining the new yellow livery on the V2 machine after running the traditional Ducati red in Monday’s race, Dunlop added: “It’s just a Ducati colour – Ducati has a red colour and a yellow colour, so one of the [Ducati] bosses is here today, so it was just nice to have something different.
“It’s all the same sponsors and I have to thank all the guys at Milwaukee, Quattro Plant, Cheshire Mouldings and Monster – the bike’s the same but nobody knew about it [yellow livery], only me, one other sponsor and the boy who stickered it. It was pretty cool to have it sitting.”
Dunlop was on lap record pace on his second lap but with a lead of more than 10 seconds over Harrison, he began to manage his race pace as he prepared to come in for his pit-stop.
“Probably the wind a bit [prevented lap record] but I knew where I was at and I saw I was pulling a bit of time back,” said Dunlop, whose 2023 lap record stands at 130.403mph.
“I was pretty good in the first sector today and I don’t know whether it was the weather or what it was, but I was in the hunt and I was able to chip away at it them.
“In the last 600 race I did 130 which is kind of cool and I think with a bit more time with the bike we could’ve dialled out the chassis a bit more in areas, but we’ve done what we came here to do and keep everybody happy.”