The Monster Energy by FHO Racing BMW team made TT history today as Peter Hickman won the second RL360 Superstock race in epic style, setting a new Superstock lap record, as well as smashing the official outright lap record, with an incredible last lap speed of 136.358mph aboard the BMW M 1000 RR Superstock-spec machine.
Following his Superstock win earlier in the week, the odds were in Hicky’s favour and taking the lead from the outset he never looked back. After the compulsory pit stop at the end of lap one and with an opening lap of 134.068mph the pace was hot as the as the Monster Energy by FHO Racing BMW rider had stretched out the lead by 1.8s, ahead of Michael Dunlop.
Extending the lead to 2.3 seconds as they flew through Glen Helen, the pace continued to increase and so did Hickman’s lead at each sector. Coming into the third and final lap, he led Dunlop by 5.1s, then by Glen Helen it was up to six seconds, as Hickman broke Dean Harrison’s five-year old sector time from the Grandstand to Glen Helen.
In the final stages of the race and with outright lap record pace, Hickman’s lead had jumped to 13.2 seconds at the Bungalow aboard the BMW machine. Crossing the line, he took his 11th TT victory (later to be 12 after winning the Supertwin race), and with a lap speed at a sensational 136.358mph he obliterated the Superstock lap record by 2mph, which he’d set in 2018, as well as the outright TT lap record by 1mph!
For teammate Josh Brookes across the three-lap race, it was a battle for fifth place as he lapped the Mountain Course. Coming home fifth, Brookes matched his best-ever TT finish and set a new personal best lap of 131.750mph.
The Monster Energy by FHO Racing BMW team have one more race to look forward at this year’s Isle of Man TT Races, with the six-lap Milwaukee Senior TT taking place tomorrow (Saturday 10 June) at 12.15.
Peter Hickman:
“That race was absolutely fantastic for the Monster Energy by FHO Racing BMW team, I felt a little lethargic on the start, but got myself into the race after the pitstop and managed to pull a bit of a gap over Michael [Dunlop]. They’d made a few changes from the race earlier in the week as he was a lot stronger today which was good to see, but it meant I had to pull my finger out a little more! On the last lap I was watching my boards and I could see I wasn’t too far away so I got my head down a bit and waited to see where we ended up. To break the outright lap record and get the Superstock lap record is fantastic and to get the first 136mph lap was brilliant. There was a huge number of fans around the course all waving, cheering, programmes were up in the air – it was brilliant to see and thanks so much for all the support out there. A huge thanks to Faye, the FHO Racing team, BMW and all our sponsors.”
Josh Brookes:
“It was a little difficult at the start because the last time I rode was Sunday, with the Superbike race, then when I went to ride again on Tuesday we had to retire from the race and Wednesday there was no race for me. Yesterday was a day off and now it’s Friday so there’s been a few days off the bike. The first lap was just trying to get back into the game really, I settled in and then improved on areas I needed to work on and that allowed me to push my way through past a couple of people and force my way into the fifth-place position. I’m happy enough with the progression in the race, I matched by best TT finish and then went on to get the podium in the Supertwin race, so it’s been a good day overall. We now have the Senior tomorrow, so we’ll see how we get on in that.”
Faye Ho – Team Principal:
“I’m so pleased for Pete today, what a race that was! To break the outright lap record on a Superstock machine, shows just how good the BMW is. The team have worked really hard to give Pete a fantastic Superstock package this week and the results speak for themselves; I really can’t thank them all enough. The progression Josh made in the race was also superb, he set a new personal best lap time and matched his best-ever TT finish, which he then went on to beat landing on the podium in the Supertwin race. We’ve had really good results in the Superstock races taking both wins, a new lap record and setting the outright lap record. A huge thank you to everyone involved and we are looking forward to the final race tomorrow, the six-lap Senior TT.”
