First races of 2023 Isle of Man TT delayed due to a road traffic incident

Racing at TT 2023 was due to get underway at 11:45am with the opening Supersport race of the week, followed at 2:15pm by the first Sidecar contest of the event.

There was also meant to be a one-lap solo warm-up session at 10:30am, with roads closing around the 37.75-mile course at 10am.

However, TT organisers have announced that the schedule for Saturday has been delayed by an hour due to a traffic incident.

Roads will now close at 11am local time, with the solo warm-up session set for 11:30am, before the Supersport race takes place at 12:45am.

The Sidecar race will now likely get underway at 3:15pm. It’s unclear whether the lap total for each race will be altered due to the delay.

A brief statement from the TT on social media read: “Update: Due to a road traffic collision, there is a one-hour delay to today’s scheduling including road closures.

“All roads on the TT Mountain Course will now close at 11am.”

For the first time in years, the first race of TT week will not be the opening Superbike contest, with the Supersport machinery first away across four laps provisionally.

The first Superbike race will take place on Sunday from 2:40pm, with racing set to continue on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of next week.

Conditions have been perfect on the island throughout practice week, teeing up a potentially historic race week after unofficial lap records were set in qualifying.

Michael Dunlop stole the headlines on the final day of practice on Friday when he posted an unofficial lap record of 135.531mph on his Hawk Racing Honda Superbike.

That marked the first 135mph lap since Peter Hickman’s official outright lap record of 135.452mph set in 2018 in the Senior TT race.

Home hero Conor Cummins announced on social media that he will be absent from the first two days of racing at TT 2023 having been hospitalised with a viral infection.

He will attempt to return on Tuesday for the third race day of TT 2023.