After ending third within the second Superstock race on the 2025 Isle of Man TT, Michael Dunlop mentioned he’s been coping with issues on the BMW M1000 RR “all week”.
The Ballymoney rider is but to win a 1,000cc race at this yr’s TT, having switched to BMW equipment for this yr after spending 2023 and 2024 on Hondas within the Superstock and Superbike lessons.
Though BMW has dominated within the ‘large bike’ lessons in recent times, that dominance has been damaged considerably by Honda and Dean Harrison in 2025, who’ve gained each Superstock races, whereas Davey Todd was capable of take victory over Dunlop within the Superbike TT on Monday.
Todd, too, has complained of electronics points on his Superstock BMW on the TT, and Dunlop admitted after the second Superstock race that he’s nonetheless encountering problems with his personal.
“We’ve simply had issues all week with the bike,” Dunlop mentioned after Superstock Race 2 in his post-race parc ferme interview.
“It looks as if an electronical subject. We’ve been struggling somewhat bit.”
Dunlop added that he knew he’d misplaced the win after two corners of the race on account of a run-on.
“I ran on on the primary lap, two corners in, and as soon as I knew I’d finished that it was sport over,” he mentioned.
“So, we simply needed to battle away simply to get again to the rostrum.
“I noticed ‘James’ on my board so I knew I should have been dicing with James [Hillier], so as soon as I noticed him down the highway I knew I used to be fantastic, so I simply form of bought him nearby and went form of regular, there was no level of stressing on.
“I knew Dean [Harrison[ would’ve been out the blocks fast, and I saw [Todd] within the pits, I feel it wouldn’t begin, so I knew then that Dean was gone so there was no level even attempting to combat for that one.”
Dunlop added {that a} lack of monitor time had contributed to his struggles on the Superstock and Superbike machines.
“It’s simply been a tough week, particularly on the massive bikes this week,” he mentioned.
“With little monitor time, we’ve simply struggled to get going. But it surely’s simply the way in which the cookie crumbles.”
Victory in Supertwin
Later within the day, Dunlop was again on the highest step within the Supertwin race, beating Davey Todd by over 25 seconds to brush the category for the 2025 version of the TT.
The victory included a brand new Supertwin lap document on the ultimate lap, that Dunlop admitted afterwards he was shocked about.
“The bike’s been good, we didn’t do an enormous pile of laps on it, clearly – we didn’t have the prospect to anyway, actually,” Dunlop mentioned in his post-race TV interview, referring to the climate in apply week.
“The final lap [time] I used to be shocked as a result of I backed off [to] keep the bike to strive and ensure every little thing was alright.
“The Paton boys have finished a fantastic job, I’d prefer to thank these boys.
“The primary factor for me is successful races. Everyone says you want a Paton so the boys have gotten Patons, so I’m glad to nonetheless be on the entrance.”
Senior focus
Dunlop additionally mentioned after the Supertwin race that he nonetheless has some points to resolve on his Superbike forward of the Senior TT on Saturday.
“Lack of apply actually, if I’m trustworthy with you, has hindered us a bit on the massive bikes, and possibly the 600 [Supersport], too,” he mentioned.
“However, the primary factor is [Saturday]. I’m wanting ahead to it.
“Let’s see what the climate’s going to be and hopefully the modifications we’ve made– we made modifications for the apply lap that didn’t actually work, so hopefully we are able to make one thing to make it work.”
