John McGuinness sets blistering pace in Classic TT qualifying
John McGuinness and Michael Dunlop starred on day two of the Classic TT
John McGuinness has rolled back the years after topping the second Historic Senior qualifying session of this year’s Classic TT.
After seeing Michael Dunlop dominate the opening qualifying session in the class, McGuinness went considerably faster than Wednesday’s times, as he eventually finished over three tenths clear of Dean Harrison.
McGuinness was the only rider able to set an average lap time over the 110mph bracket, posting an official time of 111.750mph on his second lap.
Harrison lapped the iconic Mountain Course just once in the Senior category, although his time of 108.044mph was still good enough for second place.
Despite losing top spot in the Historic Senior class, Dunlop still ended the day fastest in at least one session.
Riding at the Classic TT for the first time with the Milenco by Padgetts team, Dunlop topped the Lightweight classification, which was run alongside the Ultra Lightweight category as part of the same session.
There was a ten-minute delay to that start of the Lightweight/Ultra Lightweight qualifying session on Thursday afternoon, however, Dunlop wasted no time in showing his pace once riders were let loose.
Dunlop ended the session with a time of 116.470mph which was good enough to beat Paul Jordan by 0.235s.
Second in the Formula One class on Wednesday, Nathan Harrison turned his P2 finish into top spot yesterday afternoon.
The Greenall Racing Kawasaki rider set a time of 124.721mph, narrowly beating team-mate Jamie Coward in the process.
Dunlop was a late starter in the Formula One class, which could have contributed to his fourth place finish.
Riding a Team Classic Suzuki machine, Dunlop initially moved into third spot before David Johnson took over P3, which was a position he then kept for the remainder of the session.
Weather had stayed pretty clear for much of Thursday afternoon’s running, however, organisers were forced to cancel the evening sessions as rain began to fall.
The Classic TT is set to continue today with roads expected to close at 11:30am. A total of three qualifying sessions are due to take place.
