A frustrated Michael Dunlop said he “won’t be caught like this again” after struggling with his Honda Superbike in Sunday’s opening race of the 2026 Isle of Man TT festival.

The record 33-time winner elected to ride a Hawk Racing-prepared Honda at the TT, with Dunlop shelving his plans to race a World Superbike-spec Ducati Panigale V4R.

After taking late delivery of the Ducati, he tested the machine at Oulton Park in April but said it required further testing and development before being raced on the roads.

Dunlop rode the Honda at the North West 200, finishing third in the opening Superbike race, and stuck with the bike for the TT, where he finished third in Sunday’s RST Superbike race behind Honda Racing’s Dean Harrison and runner-up Peter Hickman (8TEN Racing BMW).

placeholder image — A disappointed Michael Dunlop after finishing third in the Superbike TT at the Isle of Man TT on Sunday. (Photo by Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press)

The Ballymoney man was around 28 seconds down on race winner Harrison and 12.4s back on Hickman after the six-lapper, and later admitted he was “quite surprised” to be on the rostrum after facing issues throughout qualifying week and in the race.

Dunlop, who is riding a BMW in the Superstock class, said: “I was quite surprised, I didn’t think we had any podium pace, to be honest with you.

“The situation we’ve been in, it’s been pretty tough this week with the big bikes. We know what the problem is, and it seems we can’t really do much to solve it.

“We knew it was going to be hard work, we knew Dean was going to come out of the crate punching straight away, and it’s hard.

“I got caught by a few boys in front of me, I lost a bit of time, and the issue just seemed to keep creeping in and creeping in, and it just did us every lap,” he added.

“But you need to be bringing your A game at the minute to beat Dean on the big bike.

“He’s played it smart, he’s riding the same bike for three years, and probably coming here too late... it’s my own fault.”

Dunlop doesn’t seem optimistic of overcoming the problems with his Honda ahead of the Senior TT next Saturday and admitted the problem was “going to be here for the next week”.

“I think the problem we have is going to be here for the next week, but I’ll not be caught like this again,” he said.

“It’s a frustrating race coming here knowing what you can do and not even getting near what you can do.”

The TT’s most successful rider will be aiming to add to his haul of wins around the Mountain Course on Tuesday, when he will start as favourite in the Supersport and Sportbike races.

Dunlop set a Supersport qualifying lap on his Scars/MD Racing Ducati V2 at 129.55mph and was under his Sportbike lap record on his factory Paton Supertwin.