Ballaugh resident Dean Harrison was at if from the off as TT qualifying got underway in perfect conditions on Tuesday evening.

After Monday’s session was curtailed because of the red-flag incident in Ramsey, Harrison wasted no time in laying down a marker for the rest of the meeting with a blistering opening lap of 133.222mph (16 minutes 59.564 seconds) on the Honda Racing Fireblade Superbike.

The Yorkshireman’s stunning start was the fastest opening lap in an opening qualifying session in the history of the event. For good measure he threw in a second lap of 133.925mph (16:56.204) before jumping on his Superstock machine just before the big bikes’ session came to an end.

Dean’s fastest ever lap around the Mountain Course is 135.692mph, which was set in the Superstock race last year.

Harrison was one of four to lap at an average of more than 130mph from a standing start in the first official timed session of this year’s festival.

Michael Dunlop, Josh Brookes and Manxie Nathan Harrison were the others off to a flying start, with Australian Brookes the fastest Superstock machine so far on his DAO Racing Honda.

In the other classes, Michael Dunlop looks set to continue his dominance of the Supersport category after topping the charts with a lap of 125.955mph (17 minutes 58.381 seconds) on his MD Racing 890 Ducati. Peter Hickman was second quickest and Ian Hutchinson third.

Paul Jordan was quickest in the new Sportbikes class posting a lap of 120.208 (18:49.945) on the Jackson Racing Aprilia. Jamie Coward was second quickest and Mike Browne slips to third.

Prior to that Ryan and Callum Crowe were once again dominant with an opening lap of 118.224mph (19:08.900), which is just down on their opening lap of last year despite the three-wheelers’ new regulations.

The Crowes were 47 seconds quicker over the lap than current second fastest Peter Founds and Jevan Walmsley.

Qualifying continues on Wednesday afternoon with roads closing at 12.30pm. The Mountain section will shut at 11.15am.