McGuiness wins Classic TT Historic Senior

54-year-old won in commanding fashion

John McGuinness MBE won the Classic TT Historic Senior race today (24 August).

It was a commanding win by the 54-year-old who beat second place Shaun Anderson by over 26 seconds. 

Mike Brown then completed the podium as he finished in third. 

McGuinness is the second winner of the day so far after Johnny Stewart won the Manx Grand Prix Junior race earlier today.

Race report by: Isle of Man TT Races

Thirty years after making his Mountain Course debut John McGuinness MBE was victorious again as he won Monday afternoon’s Historic Senior race at the 2026 Classic TT.

The Winfield Paton rider taking his fourth win in the class as he came home 26.8s ahead of Shaun Anderson (Beugger Racing Paton). Mike Browne (Peter Lodge Racing Norton ES2) finished third.

With perfect weather conditions McGuinness was first to arrive at Glen Helen on the opening lap, and he led Anderson by 3.6s with Browne a further second back in third.

Dean Harrison (Chris Hughes Racing with Ted Woof Norton), Michael Dunlop MBE (Flitwick Motorcycles/SMV Royal Enfield) and Conor Cummins (Steadplan Racing Honda) completed the early top six, but Jamie Coward was out having retired the Craven Classic Racing/Ted Woof Norton at Quarter Bridge.

Onto Ballaugh and McGuinness had extended his lead over Anderson to 7.6s and he, in turn, had pulled away from Browne, the gap between second and third now 5.1s.

It was close for fourth and fifth though with Harrison and Dunlop separated by just 0.6s as Paul Jordan (Davies Motorsport Yamaha) moved up to sixth.

Round Ramsey Hairpin for the first time and McGuinness had pulled further away, his lead over Anderson now 12s, but Browne was keeping in touch with Anderson with only 5.5s between them in the north of the island.

Dunlop had overhauled Harrison on the run from Ballaugh turning his deficit into a 4.4s advantage and Cummins was back up to sixth after Jordan retired at Parliament Square where he was joined on the sidelines by Joe Yeardsley (Ruthless Racing Honda).

McGuinness was having no such issues and continued to pull away from the rest of the field, an opening lap of 113.028mph, the fastest lap of the race, seeing him pull clear of Anderson (111.157mph) by 20.2s. Browne (110.581mph) remained in third and although he crossed the line in fourth, Dunlop (107.994mph) immediately pulled in to retire.

That promoted Harrison (106.947mph) up the order to fourth and with Cummins another retirement, this time at Windy Corner, Barry Furber (103.614mph) and Harley Rushton (103.614mph) moved up to fifth and sixth respectively.

Harrison didn’t get much further though and stopped at Quarter Bridge.

Onto Glen Helen second time around and McGuinness added another two seconds to his lead, the gap to Anderson now 22.4s but Browne was still well in touch with Anderson, cutting the gap to 4.7s.

Harrison’s demise meant Furber (Ireland Racing Honda) and Rushton on the Chris Hughes Racing/Ted Woof Matchless G50 were up to fourth and fifth with Michael Sweeney (IMS/CSC Racing Yamaha) now taking over sixth.

Reaching Ramsey Hairpin for the second time, the lead for McGuinness had increased further but the battle for second was truly on as a superb sector by Browne from Ballaugh to Ramsey meant he’d closed to within half a second of Anderson.

And by the Bungalow, he’d taken over second place albeit by only 0.124s.

A second lap speed of 112.724mph put McGuinness in a comfortable position out front, his lead over Browne half a minute and the latter had built on his advantage over Anderson, the gap now 2.6s as they started their third and final lap.

Further back on the road, Furber (105.885mph), Rushton (104.029mph) and Sweeney (103.747mph) continued to circulate in fourth to sixth with Will Loder (Minnovation Racing Matchless) also above 103mph in seventh.

Back at the head of the field, McGuinness continued to press on, setting the best sector time from the Grandstand to Glen Helen but he eased off on the second half of the lap and with a final lap speed of 112.283mph, he duly won by 26.8s but it was Anderson (112.839mph) who claimed second place as Browne slowed on the final run over the Mountain.

He made it to the end though to finish third as Furber held on for fourth and with Rushton losing time on the drop down the Mountain, eventually finishing sixth.

Loder came through for a fine fifth place.

The final lap saw a flurry of retirements including Sweeney, Michael Evans, Andy Hornby and Phil McGurk and it was Ben Birchall (Ruthless Racing Honda) who took seventh, the first 350cc rider to finish, as Simon Collins, David Glover and Shelley Pike completed the top ten.

For McGuinness, the victory marked another milestone in a remarkable TT career, coming three decades after his Mountain Course debut and seven years after his last race win during the 2019 Classic TT.

Fittingly, it was achieved aboard a Paton, one of the machines synonymous with the Historic Senior era, as the 23-time TT winner once again demonstrated the race craft that has defined his time on the Isle of Man.