Changes to 2026 Isle of Man TT schedule revealed

The recent TT was one of the most popular in years

A host of changes to next year's Isle of Man TT schedule, including increased rest days and a greater number of contingency periods, have been confirmed.

The 2026 festival, set to run from 25 May to 6 June, will also see an update to the Supertwin class to allow Sportbike specification machines to compete for the first time.

The Department for Enterprise (DfE) said the updates would add "greater resilience and flexibility" to the two-week programme "in the event of poor weather or delays".

Meanwhile, new figures revealed the 2025 event welcomed some 51,650 fans, which organisers said was the highest attendance in more than 15 years, despite severe disruption due to rain, fog and gusty winds.

Practice week at the 2026 meeting will see a newly introduced rest day on Thursday, but with an additional daytime session on Wednesday practice and qualifying sessions will increase from six to seven.

The Sunday following the final race of the contest, the Senior TT, is set to remain as a fully-resourced contingency race day, with the number of contingency periods across the festival fortnight increasing from 8 to 12.

In an update to the race schedule the Superstock and Supersport races will switch places in the running order.

The Superstock competitions will now be paired with the Sidecar races, and Supersport will run alongside the Supertwin, with the latter being renamed the Sportbike class.

A DfE spokeswoman explained most of the existing Supertwin machines would still be eligible, with only minor technical changes.

The changes have been designed to increase the flexibility of the event

Clerk of the course Gary Thompson said a rest day in qualifying week and greater contingency opportunities would "significantly enhance the flexibility of the event" and place "greater emphasis on the welfare of the competitors, marshals, medics, officials, and volunteers".

"Combined with the technical updates to our race classes, these changes represent an important step in future-proofing the TT ", he added.