Australian Josh Brookes felt his fourth place in Sunday’s RST Superbike TT was a “good, solid start” after a “brutal” opening race at the 2026 festival.

The two-time British Superbike champion struggled to tame his DAO Racing Honda through qualifying week and Brookes admitted he had a few eye-opening moments on the first two laps, but he gradually built his way into the race and recorded his fastest lap on the final lap at 133.819mph.

The 43-year-old is the fifth fastest rider ever around the 37.73-mile Mountain Course, lapping at 134.056mph on the FHO Racing BMW as he clinched second place behind Davey Todd in the Senior race in 2024.

Brookes is spearheading DAO Racing’s TT return after an absence of two years and with a tough six-lap race under his belt, the Bringelly man is looking forward to the upcoming races this weeks.

placeholder image — Josh Brookes at Union Mills on the DAO Racing Honda in the RST Superbike race

In addition to competing in the Superstock and Senior races for DAO Racing, he will also ride in both Monster Energy Supersport races on the stunning Uggly&Co Racing Suzuki, which features a retro paintjob evoking memories of American 500GP legend Kevin Schwantz’s Pepsi-liveried RGV500 machine.

“It’s a credit to the team, the Superbike has been quite a difficult machine over the practice week, and we had to make a lot of changes to make it competitive,” said Brookes.

“I think even in that race it’s still visible to see that’s not easy to ride. It was quite a brutal start to race week, a six-lap Superbike race, without any event to ease us into it.

“The team did a great job in the pit-stop, we didn’t lose any time, and everything went smooth. The early laps for me are where I need to work on a lot more in myself, the final lap of the race was my fastest and I feel like I take too much time building into it, I can’t just drop the hammer on the first few laps.

“I had a few moments with the bike before the first pit-stop and that made me a little nervous, then I tried to ride a little more smoother and just be flowing,” Brookes added.

“After the last pit-stop I got my head down and pushed on a little more, and that’s when I made a few more improvements.

“Still, fourth place is good, it’s a solid start and we can move on now into the other races with confidence.

“I just want to add my thanks to the fans out there, they were fantastic, waving all around on the final lap, it didn’t go unnoticed and I really appreciate all the support.”