After a year away for medical reasons, the 16-time winner is back on the starting line.
January 4, 2024 in the 3:02 p.m. ET
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If you’re a racer, know racers, or have spent time watching motorsports, you know that racers usually tend to want only one thing: To race. It sounds almost too simple to be true, but when you start looking at all the factors that have to go right for this to happen, you start to understand the potential trouble spots.
In 2010, Ian Hutchinson (who is more popularly known as Hutchy to road racing fans) became the first Isle of Man TT racer to take five wins in a race week. He raced in many classes, and to this day, he is still the only racer to ever accomplish this feat.
Now that it’s 2024, Hutchy is about to get that chance again. After being ruled out for 2023 following a stroke the highly fit rider suffered during training earlier in the year, Hutchinson has been cleared to compete in the 2024 IOMTT. He has rejoined the Milenco by Padgett’s Motorcycles team, which is also the team with whom he was during that unforgettable week in 2010.
Since that amazing week in 2010, Hutchinson has gone on to claim a total of 16 TT wins to his name. This puts him firmly in fifth place in the all-time leading TT winners’ list, behind only Joey Dunlop (26), Michael Dunlop (25), John McGuinness (23) and Dave Molyneux (17).
He will race two machines this year. The first is the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP in the RST Superbike, RL360 Superstock and Milwaukee Senior TT races. The second is the new Honda CBR600RR in the two Monster Energy Supersport races.
“I’m very happy to be back with Clive and the team. I think the way I work and the team works well is a good fit. Clive puts together a bike that you know you can get on and ride fast right away. With injuries, COVID and missing last year, I don’t feel like I’ve had a good TT run since 2017 so it’s ideal to be with the team that can let me do the laps that I need. Hutchinson said in a statement.
“We’ve already tested in Spain and we’ll be back in Portugal and Spain again in the coming weeks as we have a lot more track time on the way to the TT, so I’m really looking forward to what 2024 can bring,” he added.
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