Honda Racing UK riders round out TT 2024 with multiple podiums for Dean Harrison, a return to the top five for John McGuinness MBE and a best-ever TT finish for Manxman Nathan Harrison.

After multiple delays, a packed Saturday schedule rounded out the 2024 Isle of Man TT Races, with a shortened two-lap Supersport Race 2 kickstarting the day. Damp patches still lingered around the course as the first tap on the shoulder began a day of racing around the Mountain.

From third in line on the road, Dean made what he thought was a cautious start to the race to see fourth on his pit board at the first occasion. Unbeknownst to him, however, just a second covered the top four. As he flew up and over the mountain and cut the timing beam at the Bungalow, he had passed Paul Jordan on the road and was up into third on the times and just a tenth behind Davey Todd in second.

Putting another exquisite overtake on Coward on the road before the end of lap one, Dean screamed past the Grandstand at an average opening lap speed of 127.281 mph and was leading on the road. Using all of the road as he swept beautifully from white line to white line, Dean upped the pace on his second lap to finish in a superb second, just three seconds adrift of Dunlop in first, having set his quickest 600 lap of the meeting at 128.706 mph. Thus rounding out his TT with a brace of supersport podium finishes and a smile from ear to ear.

Completing a busy Saturday at the 2024 Isle of Man TT Races was the blue riband Senior, shortened to a four-lap race as a result of the various delays. However, in true TT style the race was arguably one of the best of the event. Perfect conditions in all but a few corners set the scene for one last dance.

From a customary standing start, all three Honda Racing UK riders rocketed up and over the Mountain. Dean third on the road was the quickest of the three with a 132.9 mph lap to sit fourth on the times. John McGuinness meanwhile from his number one slot, was in the hunt for a top six as he ended the first lap in seventh just one second behind Mike Browne ahead. Nathan too was making a strong start to sit inside the top ten in ninth and under a second behind Shaun Anderson ahead.

As Dean, John and Nathan dived into the pit stop at the end of lap two for a splash of fuel and a rear wheel change, the trio were sitting in third, sixth and eighth respectively. A slow stop for John however lost him time to Mike Browne and he emerged from the pits in sixth, four seconds behind. Slick stops for both Dean and Nathan though enabled them to take big chunks out of those ahead of them.

By the end of lap three and pushing hard, John had managed to real in Browne in front to close the gap to four seconds. Dean too was pushing and was in a comfortable third at this stage, eyeing up another podium finish to add to his 2024 tally. Nathan was also flying and running in seventh.

Flying past the finish line, Dean bagged himself podium number four from TT 24 with a sublime ride to third. And in an exceptional display of grit and determination, John McGuinness overhauled his four-second deficit to Browne in fifth to secure himself a mightily impressive fifth-place finish. He now has 111 TT starts and 83 of them were aboard a Honda.

Local lad Nathan too displayed his resilient character as he roared past the grandstand for the final time and netted himself his best-ever TT finish with a superb seventh. With a margin to eighth of just 0.4 seconds too.

 

Quotes

Dean Harrison, Supersport race - 2nd, Senior TT - 3rd

I’m super happy to go one better in that Supersport race and get a second. I knew that there were damp patches around the course when we set off but you didn’t know exactly where it was or how bad it was. So I didn’t quite know how hard to push from the off. My first pit board was P4 and I thought oh I haven’t gone for it enough. So at that point I just got my head down and cracked on with the job. It’s only when the team told me that we were all so close on lap one you realise why it was P4. By the time I had a P2 on a board, I was scratching as hard as I could to keep the position. We’re all so so close in lap times, you only need to find a few seconds here and there and you are a few places better off. To come away with two Supersport podiums from the TT, the first time I’ve raced the bike here, I’m happy with that. To end TT 2024 with another podium is great, the team have worked flat out for so long now and it means the world to me to reward that hard work with another podium. There is just so much potential to this new bike, we need to unlock a bit more of that potential to go a bit better but I am going home happy that is for sure. We worked hard on the pit stops during the week and the slick pit stop certainly helped with that result. I’m so happy for Nathan too to get a good result. There are so many positives to come out of the fortnight.

John McGuinness MBE, Senior TT - 5th

I’m happy with my TT, to do my fastest ever total race time in the six lapper at the start of the event, my fastest ever superstock lap and to get a top-five finish in the senior, I’m happy. I’m in a really good place, the bike is mint and I just love riding it. The conditions for the Senior were just perfect too, so to put my factory Honda leathers on and ride the best course in the world is just unbeatable. The team made a mistake in the pits, but the lad who did would take a bullet for me and I won’t hear a bad word said about it. It’s one of those things. Every time I turn up to see the bike it’s immaculately turned out and I am buzzing. Big congrats to Dean, he’s on the pipe and riding awesome, and for Nathan to get a seventh is fantastic, the kid deserves it.

Nathan Harrison Senior TT - 7th

I am over the mood to get a seventh in my second-ever Senior TT. It’s been such a long journey to get to this point and this is only the beginning. I’ve got my best-ever finish, I’ve lapped faster than ever and I couldn’t be happier. Thank you to the team, to my sponsors and to my family. Twelve weeks ago I was on my way back from Spain after a little tip-off and here I am not far off a top-six finish in the Senior TT. I’ll keep on working, keep getting faster and faster and building for the future.