TT 2026: Organisers confirm event is over with no rerun of blue riband Senior and Dean Harrison declared winner
The final day of the 2026 Isle of Man TT was rained off on Saturday in an anticlimactic ending to the famous two-week festival, with the prestigious Senior race declared a result.
The TT’s headline race was halted by a red flag on Friday when Erno Kostamo crashed at the 11th Milestone on the second lap. The Finnish rider has been flown to Aintree Hospital for further treatment on leg and hip injuries.
A Senior TT result was confirmed on Saturday based on positions at the end of the first lap in Friday evening’s race, when Honda Racing’s Dean Harrison was leading by 12.4 seconds from Peter Hickman (8TEN Racing BMW) and Josh Brookes (DAO Racing Honda).
Harrison lapped at 135.166mph from a standing start and was inside Hickman’s 136mph outright lap record when the race was stopped on lap two.
The second Carole Nash Sportbike TT, also scheduled for Saturday, was also called off.
In a diffuclt year for the event, both RL360 Superstock races were also cancelled as the TT was severely impacted by adverse weather, while no Sidecar racing was held after the class was suspended following safety concerns when four-time winners Ryan and Callum Crowe crashed at Crosby jump in qualifying.
A TT statement on Saturday said conditions had not improved enough to allow the Senior race to be rerun over four laps of the Mountain Course.
It read: “Following consultation between the Clerk of the Course and the Isle of Man Met Office, it has been determined that the forecast weather conditions around the Course are not looking to sufficiently improve within the required time, and the remaining available operational windows do not provide a suitable opportunity for any further racing to be completed safely.
“As a result, the Milwaukee Senior TT result has been declared based on the positions at the end of a lap one of Friday’s original race start. Subsequently, the Carole Nash Sportbike TT Race 2 has been cancelled and will not take place.
“Dean Harrison has therefore been declared the winner of the 2026 Milwaukee Senior TT, securing his 7th TT victory. He is joined by Peter Hickman in second place and Josh Brookes in third.”
The statement said the TT had faced an “unprecedented run of conditions”, with rain affecting seven of nine days on which racing could have taken place, “severely limiting the opportunities available to the Race Organiser ACU Events Ltd”.
It added: “Despite those challenges, the Race Organisers have worked continuously throughout the event to identify and make use of every possible weather window.
“Decisions were reviewed repeatedly against the latest forecast information, course conditions and the operational requirements involved in delivering racing safely on the 37.73-mile TT Mountain Course.”
Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson blamed an “exceptional set of circumstances” for thwarting this year’s event and admitted that inclement weather would always have an impact on racing at the TT.
“This has undoubtedly been one of the most challenging TTs in recent years from a weather perspective,” he said.
“Over the course of the event, we set out with nine days on which racing could potentially have taken place, and rain will have affected seven of them. That is an exceptional set of circumstances and it has had a major impact on what we have been able to deliver.
“Throughout the event, the weather simply hasn’t worked in our favour. We have faced low cloud, rain, standing water and changing conditions across different parts of the Mountain Course, which have significantly limited the windows available to us.
“We fully appreciate that today’s outcome will be disappointing for competitors, teams, sponsors, volunteers and, of course, the thousands of fans who travel to the Isle of Man from around the world to experience the TT.
“However, throughout the event we have remained committed to making the very best use of every available weather window, while carefully managing the operational, logistical and safety considerations involved in delivering racing on the Mountain Course,” added Thompson.
“The challenges we have faced this year are part of the nature of an event that takes place on 37.73 miles of public roads. That is what makes the TT unique, but it also means that weather and course conditions will always play a significant role in determining what is possible.”
Four races were successfully run, with Michael Dunlop clinching a treble to extend his record tally to 36 with victories in both Monster Energy Supersport races and the sole Carole Nash Sportbike race.
England’s Harrison won the RST Superbike race in addition to the Senior for a double.