The 2026 Isle of Man TT festival begins its practice week on Bank Holiday Monday, with the road-racing world arriving on the Mountain Course for a fortnight that has been reshaped by injury, retirement decisions and one big factory swap.
Michael Dunlop, on 33 TT wins and chasing both his uncle Joey Dunlop's legacy and the all-time record, leads the line-up as the bookies' favourite — but with a new spanner in the works. The Northern Irishman has signed to ride a Ducati Panigale V4 in the Superbike and Senior TTs, a move that puts him on the Bologna factory's first official top-tier TT entry in decades. The same machine he ran on Northern Ireland's roads at the North West 200 was withdrawn at short notice, with the team citing "a lack of time to adequately prepare the Ducati." Dunlop reverted to a Honda CBR1000RR-R for that meeting, and questions have lingered about whether the V4 will be raceworthy when the Senior begins.
Peter Hickman, the 14-time TT winner who still holds the outright lap record at 136.358 mph on the Superstock-spec BMW M1000RR set in 2023, returns from injury and has tempered expectations. Hickman's testing pace on the smaller-capacity Sportbike has been stronger than his Superbike speed, and team sources at FHO Racing have hinted he may target the Supersport and Sportbike classes first before pressing on the big bike.
Dean Harrison's name keeps rising in paddock conversations. The works Honda HRC rider completed the Superstock double in 2025 and arrives at the Mountain Course on Fireblade machinery that looked transformed in the early-week tests. One Honda team member, asked privately about Harrison's prospects, said the Yorkshire rider had come into 2026 "stronger than ever" after a winter spent fine-tuning the SP-spec Superbike.
The biggest absence is Davey Todd. The Milwaukee BMW rider, widely tipped to challenge Hickman for the outright lap record, was declared medically unfit after a heavy fall during Daytona 200 qualifying in March. The injuries — a fractured right wrist among them — ruled him out of practice week and the races, removing one of the three or four genuine win contenders from the Superbike entry. Without Todd, the front-runner conversation tightens further around Dunlop, Hickman and Harrison.
John McGuinness, the 23-time winner now in his mid-50s, returns once again on a Honda CBR1000RR-R and remains a regular podium threat in Superstock and the Senior, while James Hillier and Conor Cummins continue to anchor the field of riders capable of running over 130 mph laps.
The Sidecar class delivers its own headline. Ben Birchall, on 14 TT wins, lines up with new passenger Mark Wilkes and could equal Mike Hailwood's all-time outright tally of 14 if he picks up just one win across the two Sidecar races. New restrictor-plate rules introduced for 2026 are designed to tighten the field, and rivals including the Founds brothers and Tim Reeves are expected to push the LCR-based outfits closer than recent years.
Practice week starts Monday May 25 with newcomer speed-controlled laps and untimed sessions, before qualifying proper builds toward the first race on Saturday May 30, when Superstock and Sidecar open the official programme. The Supersport and Sportbike races slot through the middle of race week, with the flagship Superbike TT and Senior TT — the six-lap, 226-mile blue-ribbon events — held on standalone race days as the schedule demands.
The biggest single change behind the scenes is the way the new "TT Explained" rider safety protocols have been rolled out, with the organisers publishing fresh video guidance on spectator etiquette, course safety and roadside positioning. Two fatalities in the 2025 races and a separate sidecar crash at the Verandah in 2024 prompted a wholesale review, and several established viewing locations have been adjusted or restricted for the 2026 festival.
For the riders, the calculation is the same as it has always been on the Mountain Course. Get a feel for the bike in practice. Build into qualifying. Hit race week ready to commit. The clock starts ticking on Monday morning when the roads close at 10:45 am Manx time, and runs through to the chequered flag on Senior race day on Friday June 5.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/isle-of-man-tt-2026-preview-dunlop-ducati-hickman-harrison-todd-injured). Visit for full coverage.*
