TT 2017: Dunlop: We made the impossible possible

'We had a bit of a problem in the first race but everyone remembers the Senior. I told you, bring me here on anything and I'll win on it' - Michael Dunlop.

Kyle White

09 Jun 2017

Michael Dunlop turned the all-new Bennetts Suzuki into a race winner with victory in the Senior TT and proclaimed: 'We made the impossible possible'.

The Northern Ireland rider won the re-started four-lap feature race by 13 seconds from Peter Hickman (Smiths BMW), with Dean Harrison in third on the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki.

It was Dunlop's 15th TT win and his second of the week after he won the opening Supersport race on his MD Racing Yamaha.

"Today we made the impossible possible. It's a brand new motorbike and it was hard work. I was under a bit of pressure there and I tried to go as easy on the bike as I could," he said.

"We could have had the double if we hadn't had a problem in the first race but the bike did us proud. I can't say enough about the team and the bike never missed a beat. We had a bit of a problem in the first race but everyone remembers the Senior. I told you, bring me here on anything and I'll win on it."

Dunlop changed the rear chock of his GSX-R1000 after the race was stopped on the second lap when Ian Hutchinson came off at the 27th Milestone, sustaining a fractured leg, and it seemed to make the difference as he set the fastest lap of the 2017 festival at 132.903mph on lap two to pull clear.

"We went the wrong way with the rear shock but we had a second bite at the cherry and I can't say enough to my team and also to Steve and Stuart Hicken - what can I say," he said.

"I knew I could do it but we just needed the package right. People don't understand how far we came this week because we had a lot of issues, but we pulled through them. I could have went faster but we just wanted to save what we had because we didn't know what way it would go, but the little lady came home and that's it.

"If I had what I have now at the North West, it might have been a different story but we worked hard, and I've been sore on Stuart and Steve but it was just to get the end product that we needed. It's the Senior TT and the only place I want to be in here is in the middle, and we've got here again.

"I'm speechless and we stopped the [BMW] domination, what can I say."