Isle of Man road closures pushed back due to rain

Road closures around the Isle of Man for the start of Classic TT racing have been pushed back by more than three hours due to rain, with an evening contingency session now set to be used, organisers have said.

Roads around the Mountain Course had been due to close at 09:30 BST, but they will now remain open until 13:00.

Organisers said the decision had been made to “maximise today’s available road closure periods” and would allow racing for all classes to go ahead.

The roads are now set to re-open between 16:30 and 18:00 before the evening closure until 21:00.

Ronaldsway Met Office predicted the rain would give way to sunny intervals from early afternoon.

The new schedule sees the three returning Classic TT races truncated along with two parade laps now set to go ahead in the evening.

14:00 – Historic Junior Classic TT Race (1 laps)

15:00 – Lightweight Classic TT Race (2 laps)

18:30 – Formula 1 Classic TT Race (2 laps)

19:45 – TT Rewind: The 80s & 90s Parade Lap (1 lap)

19:50 – Classic Sidecar Parade Lap (1 lap)

A bid was made to bring the race programme forward to run the Lightweight race on Monday, however a crash on the opening lap led to it being red-flagged.

Racing is also scheduled to take place on Friday, with further contingency sessions available on Thursday.

The island’s marshals organisation has put out a call for more volunteers to come forward to cover those sessions.

Racing in the MGP saw the Supertwin and Supersport races completed on Saturday, with the Junior and Senior classes held on Monday.