TT 2026: Ben Birchall teaming up with Mark Wilkes

Fourteen-time TT winner and former world champion united for sidecar races

Fourteen-time TT winning sidecar driver, Ben Birchall will team up with a new passenger for the 2026 Isle of Man TT Races.

It's been confirmed Birchall will be joined by former sidecar world champion passenger, Mark Wilkes for this year's campaign on the Snaefell Mountain Course.

Both will join forces to pilot the Hager/Wyckham Blackwell LCR Honda in both three-wheeled races at the 2026 event which gets underway in just under one months' time.

It'll be the third different passenger Birchall has worked alongside in the last three years following the retirement of his brother, Tom in 2023.

Having made their TT debut in 2009, Ben and Tom Birchall became a titanic force in sidecar racing at the TT which including 11 consecutive wins between 2016 and 2023 and becoming the first team to lap the Snaefell Mountain Course in a sidecar at over 120mph in 2023.

Since Tom's retirement from the sport later that year, Ben has since partnered up with new passengers in the form of Kevin Rousseau in 2024 and Patrick Rosney in 2025.

Meanwhile, Wilkes comes into this year with experience and pedigree of his own.

He made his maiden TT appearance with Tim Reeves in 2017 and finished fifth in his debut year with a best lap speed of 114.793mph - at the time, this was the fastest ever pace set by a newcomer passenger.

After that, Wilkes and Reeves earned two podium finishes a year later before the duo also claimed the FIM Sidecar World Championship crown in 2019.

Along with several other top-six TT finishes in recent years, Wilkes partnered up with driver, George Holden during last year's meeting.

The 2026 Isle of Man TT Races are due to take place from Monday, 25 May to Saturday, 6 June.