Guy Martin is in a confident mood after three days practice at the 2011 Isle of Man TT and can't wait for the racing to begin.
The Lincolnshire man has made a bright start to the event in all three classes he has entered. With just one day's qualifying remaining he sits second in the Superbike class, fourth in the Superstock class and fifth among the Supersports.
A road traffic accident followed by an oil slick dumped by a sidecar forced the abandonment of Thursday's solo sessions but Martin still feels he is in good shape ahead of the weekend.
“We’ve had a steady-away practice week and as I’ve told quite a few people already, the racing starts on Saturday, so there’s no need to hang them out in practice. It’s a matter of getting everything the way we want for racing and the big GSX-R1000 Superbike is ready to race. I’ve enjoyed this week getting back out on the TT Circuit and I feel comfortable and confident on the TAS Racing bikes; everyone is doing their job and we’re happy, so let’s hope it all comes together on Saturday.”
Relentless Suzuki Team Manager Philip Neill is cautiously optimistic and echoes the confidence shown by his rider.
“Although it is still very early days, it really is pleasing to get off to a good start. Guy has now completed four laps on the Superbike – two on the Superstock and two on the Supersport bike. He has declared himself happy with each of his GSX-R machines after taking the second fastest time of the week at 129.333mph. He even declared the Superbike ready to race already, although we will continue to make some very minor tweaks to help make his job that little bit easier.”
Relentless Suzuki by TAS also have a high profile newcomer in their ranks in the form of Le Mans 24-Hour and Bol D'or winner Guillaume Dietrich. The Frenchman recorded 102.187mph on his best lap of the week so far but Neill has stressed that the lap times are not important at this stage.
“Guillaume is steadily finding his way around the TT Circuit and is enjoying the experience, although he did have a minor mishap on his first lap earlier in the week. We are obviously not concerned with his lap times at this point. It is very important that he feels completely comfortable before building up speed.”
