2026 Isle of Man TT Sunday racing “becoming more likely” amid weather delays

Poor weather has led the 2026 Isle of Man TT to delay multiple races at the beginning of the second week of the event, and the use of the Sunday contingency period is “becoming more likely”.

Racing was due to be opened last Saturday (30 May) by the Superstock class, but it was postponed due to bad weather. Sunday’s Superbike TT ran smoothly and all six laps were completed, but the bad weather returned on Monday and has continued into today, prompting more delays at the road racing event.

Three one-hour delays to the Tuesday schedule were announced this morning, with the Supersport race now due to start at 14:00 having originally been planned for 11:00. The Sportbike race that was due to follow it does not yet have a start time.

Additionally, the aforementioned Superstock race that was originally scheduled for Saturday was rescheduled for this evening with a start time of 18:00. That plan has now been scrapped with bad weather expected to roll in again this evening.

The quantity of the delays early on in race week means the Isle of Man TT Clerk of the Course, Gary Thompson, is already considering the Sunday contingency period to try to fit as much of the race programme in as possible.

“Obviously, we’ve had some inclement weather over yesterday, we’ve got more disruption today, and the likelihood is we’re going to have more weather disruption over the next couple of days,” said Thompson.

“The primary thing for me is rider safety, and obviously we’ll only put the riders out in the best possible conditions. 

“So, looking towards the end of the week– as I said we’ve got this inclement period now, and the use of the contingency on Sunday afternoon is becoming more likely. 

“So, although it’s not confirmed yet – we’ve yet to confirm that – we all have to be realistic and have that in the back of our minds, that we’re likely to be racing on Sunday afternoon.

“Obviously, it’s down to me to get all the race programme in and we’re going to do that the best we can, but only if the conditions are suitable to put the riders out. As I keep saying, safety is absolutely paramount.”