Isle of Man TT: Michael Dunlop clinches 2018 treble with Supertwins victory

Michael Dunlop on his way to a maiden Supertwins success on the Mountain Course

Michael Dunlop completed a hat-trick of victories at this year's TT by winning the Lightweight race for Supertwins for the first time on the Isle of Man.

Dunlop, 29, produced a stunning record final lap of 122.750mph to see off the challenge of Derek McGee by 14.6 seconds and record an 18th TT win.

The Northern Irish rider had previously won the Superbike and opening Supersport event at this year's races.

Ivan Lintin led for almost two laps but was forced to retire.

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The Lincolnshire rider looked well placed to add to his two TT Supertwins successes but was forced to park up with a mechanical problem at Bedstead Corner.

Lintin, Dunlop and Republic of Ireland's McGee were all inside James Hiller's three-year-old lap record after their first circuit of the Mountain Course, the Englishman enjoying a 6.8-second advantage at the front.

The Kawasaki rider's departure left the Paton-mounted Dunlop four seconds ahead of KMR Kawasaki pilot McGee at the conclusion of lap two with the help of a new benchmark of 122.257.

The top three of Derek McGee, winner Michael Dunlop and Michael Rutter after the Supertwins race

The Ballymoney man's lead was reduced to 1.6 seconds as they went onto their final lap, but Dunlop pulled away to take victory, with last year's victor Michael Rutter completing the podium positions.

Stefano Bonetti, Joey Thompson and Michael Rutter were next on the final leaderboard so the Italian-made Paton machines occupied five of the top six places.

"I didn't want to go out too fast and I had a small issue at the start so it took me a while to get into it," said Dunlop.

"I was planning my race as four laps are hard round here for these bikes - it's a hard and heavy pace. I knew it wasn't going to be a sprint so I just bedded myself in.

Final push

"Then I just pulled the pin and pushed hard on the final lap."

Dunlop adds a Supertwins triumph to his career victories in the Superbike, Superstock and Supersport categories and he has now won for six different manufacturers at the TT.

The Northern Irishman had previously been successful on BMW, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda and Yamaha machinery.

Dunlop will have the opportunity to achieve four wins in one TT week for the third time in Friday's Senior race, having achieved the feat in both 2013 and 2014.

Martin Jessopp failed to start the race while Dan Cooper, Peter Hickman and James Cowton were among the other notable retirements.