Peter Hickman was in ominous form during the second practice session at the 2023 TT on Tuesday evening. 

The nine-time winner lapped in excess of 132mph in the Superbike class as the speeds continued to match the scorching temperatures around the Mountain Course. 

Aboard his FHO Racing BMW Superbike, Hicky completed the 37.73-mile distance in an average speed of 132.079mph, which placed him one second quicker than Dean Harrison on the DAO Racing Kawasaki who in turn was another second ahead of Michael Dunlop on the Hawk Racing Honda.

Manxman Conor Cummins (130.924mph) slotted into third on the Superbike leaderboard ahead of his Milenco by Padgett’s Motorcycles team-mate Todd (129.920mph).

JKTS Racing’s Jamie Coward (128.488mph) and OMG Racing’s James Hillier (128.029mph) completed the top five. 

While Hicky reigned supreme in the Superbike class, it was Dunlop who topped the time charts in the Superstock class after lapping at 131.843mph which placed him ahead of Todd (126.63mph) and Josh Brookes (126.282mph).

Matt Stevenson, number 33 in the Superbike class, came off at Creg-Ny-Baa. He was transferred by Airmed to Noble's Hospital with reported leg and arm injuries.

Unfortunately, because of a significant oil spill near Barregarrow, the scheduled Supertwin and Supersport was cancelled to enable the Sidecars to get out on the course and gain more valuable practice time. 

Ben and Tom Birchall completed their opening lap at 116.828mph which placed them ahead of Pete Founds/Jevan Walmsley (116.110mph) and Gary Bryan/Phil Hyde (110.146mph), with Tim Reeves/Mark Wilkes completing their first lap of the week at 109.623mph.

Just managing to squeeze a second lap in before the session finished, the Birchalls upped their tempo with a speed of 118.316mph and, although Founds/Walmsley didn’t go any quicker, Reeves/Wilkes did with a lap of 112.338mph. 

Steve and Matty Ramsden were also above the 110mph barrier with their lap of 110.236mph putting them fourth quickest on the night.

As a result of the truncated session, Wednesday’s running order has been amended and is now as follows:

6.30pm - Superbike and Superstock

7.20pm - Supersport and Supertwin

8.10pm - Sidecar

More in TT News, free inside this week’s Manx Independent - on sale Thursday morning.