Michael Dunlop’s 27th Isle of Man TT win: “A record I’ve always wanted” | “Everybody’s inspiration was Joey Dunlop”

Michael Dunlop claimed his place at the top of Isle of Man TT history by surpassing late Uncle Joey’s record of 26 victories in Wednesday’s Supertwin race.

“I’ve always said I’ll never be modelled against Joey. I don’t expect to be and I don’t want to be. Joey was a special talent,” Dunlop said in parc ferme.

“Somebody will break my record someday. But I don’t care, because everybody’s inspiration was to be a Joey Dunlop around the Isle of Man.

“But to have another win for me - it’s a personal thing that I wanted to break.

“I’ve broken a lot of records through my lifetime but that’s one I’ve always wanted.”

Dunlop had equalled Joey’s record in Saturday’s Supersport race but was denied a 27th win on Sunday by a frustrating visor change problem while leading the Superbike TT.

“I don't like to be sort of cocky, but we should have been on 28 today," Dunlop said. "After the sheer disappointment from the [Superbike race], I wanted to make up for it today."

In performance terms, Wednesday’s win was never in doubt with Dunlop’s Paton leading from start to finish, crossing the line 20.4s clear of Peter Hickman (Yamaha) with a race record time of 56mins 15.993s.

“We had an issue on the first night and the boys worked really, really hard,” Dunlop said. “I must say thanks very much to the boys.”

Dunlop was due to challenge for his 28th win in this afternoon's Superstock TT, but it has been postponed until Thursday due to bad weather.