Following a problematic opening few days of the 2015 Isle of Man TT, timed qualifying sessions were finally able to get underway this evening with Bruce Anstey topping the timing sheets.
Bad weather had brought Tuesday’s sessions to a premature end, with the F2 Sidecar session being cancelled.
A whole host of riders wasted little time in getting out onto the Mountain Course on their Superbike machines, baring Ivan Lintin, who went out on his Supersport bike.
Guy Martin set the first lap of the session, at 127.277mph, but this was soon beaten by Ian Hutchinson on-board his PBM Kawasaki machine, with a speed of 127.967mph.
Gary Johnson joined Martin and Hutchinson in posting a lap over 127mph, with Anstey, James Hillier and John McGuinness all lapping over 126mph.
Anstey then went straight into top spot on his second lap, completing the course at 128.641mph. McGuinness went up into second place moments later with a lap at 128.59mph.
For their third laps most riders switched to their Supersport machines, with Anstey once again heading straight to the top of the leaderboard with a speed of 123.388mph.
Lintin (121.39mph) and Russ Mountford (121.15mph) were next up in second and third places respectively.
There were problems for Michael Dunlop throughout the session, with the Northern Irishman posting a 124.519 lap before breaking down on his Superstock machine at Greeba Castle.
He eventually made it back out onto the track, just as Anstey went to the top again with a 125.218mph lap. Martin (123.082mph) and Johnson (121.678mph) were in second and third respectively.
Following a delay, due to a serious incident at Sulby Crossroads towards the end of the session in which French rider Franck Petricola tragically lost his life, the F2 Sidecars made their way onto the circuit.
John Holden and Dan Sayle set the opening lap pace of 112.781mph. Dave Molyneux and Ben Binns (109.888mph) were next up in second place ahead of Ben and Tom Birchall (109.221mph) in third.
Molyneux improved second time around to 110.44mph with Birchall also over 110mph.
Conrad Harrison and Mike Aylott suffered from technical problems and could only post a lap of 99.612mph, with Tim Reeves and Patrick Farrance failing to finish their lap.
Following an incident during the sidecar session at Ballaspur, driver Brian Kelly was taken by Airmed to Nobles hospital but was reported to be conscious and was confirmed to be ok following assessment
TT newcomers Terry O’Relly and Aidan Browne were also reported to be ok after hitting bales at Governors Dip.
