TT 2017: 'Technical problem' forced Dunlop retirement

The Bennetts Suzuki team says a technical issue caused Michael Dunlop's retirement from the RST Superbike race on Sunday.

Dunlop was leading the race at the time on lap two, when he was forced out at Handley's on the new GSX-R1000. He set the fastest lap of the race from a standing start at 131.135mph and to move into the lead by the end of lap one and held an advantage of 1.4 seconds over Dean Harrison when he encountered problems.

Team manager Steve Hicken said: "What can we say? We were looking good and Michael was comfortable and pulling away, and it says a lot that we set the fastest lap of the race on the opening lap. There was plenty more to come and we could have done a couple of 132s, comfortably.

"Until that point the bike was working well but sometimes these things happen. It's frustrating but that's racing the TT. We'll strip the bike this evening to determine exactly what the issue was and work to resolve it ahead of Friday's Senior TT."

Dunlop had been fastest in practice as he lapped at 131.062mph on Saturday. The 28-year-old is the outright lap record holder around the Mountain Course, raising the bar to 133.962mph on his way to victory in the Senior last year.