Ian Hutchinson confident of improvements ahead of 2012 Senior TT
Isle of Man TT hero Ian Hutchinson is confident he can improve his form ahead of the PokerStars Senior TT on Friday.
Hutchy, who won all five solo races in 2010, made his competitive return to the TT in Saturday’s Dainese Superbike race, riding the Swan Yamaha.
It was six laps of vital set up for the R1, and earned Hutchinson an 8th place finish. The 2012 Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy is Hutchinson’s first competitive return to the Mountain course since he badly broke his leg in September 2010.
The Bingley man was able to gather essential data on the World Superbike-spec machine and will now collate it all with crew chief Pete Jennings to see where they can make some improvements to the bike’s settings. Hutchinson feels the suspension is still too hard for fast laps at the island and will explore options to soften it up further.
Hutchinson said:
“We were really up against it. There are lots of other riders and teams who have been using the same bike for the last four or five years around here, so they know exactly what they need and when. We have had only four days and losing Friday’s session certainly didn’t help.”
“I will get together will Pete and see where we can make some changes to the setup. We need to make the bike much softer in order to cope with the bumps around the Island, but I’m confident we can do better in Friday’s Senior. We can also adapt what we have learned to the Superstock and Supersport bikes.”
Team principal Shaun Muir added:
“It was a fantastic first ride back on the Island for Ian, considering all he has been through over the past 18 months. We will get some alterations made to not only the Superbike but also to his other Yamahas ready for the rest of the week. I am over the moon with the results from yesterday and hope to make some further progress before Friday.”