Michael Dunlop extended his unbeaten run of Supersport TT victories top eight after doubling up in the intermediate class aboard his Ducati.

Having faced a stern challenge from Dean Harrison in the first SSP TT race of the week, Dunlop was in more commanding form as he also increased his career TT victory tally to another record-breaking 32 successes.

His win emphasises Dunlop’s prowess in the Supersport class, not least because he achieved it on relatively unfamiliar and untested Ducati Panigale V2 machinery.

Indeed, Dunlop has dominated the class for several years with Yamaha, but a switch to Ducati over the winter appeared to give a sniff of an opportunity to rivals, not least Honda with its fairly new CBR600RR.

In the end though Dunlop’s class shone through, proving relentless early on to put a buffer between himself and Harrison.

Enough to catch his rival on the road, once he’d done that Dunlop was able to ease off safe in the knowledge that he just had to bring it home.

He’d eventually do so by 26secs to claim his third TT win of the week after his first Supersport triumph, plus his Supertwins Race 1 success. He has a further three chances this week to add to his tally in the second Superstock and Supertwins races, plus the Senior TT.

Behind Harrison, Davey Todd kept his podium tally ticking over with a run to third, an improvement of a position on his race one result.

Paul Jordan won the battle for fourth place, seeing off James Hind with just three seconds splitting the pair at the flag. 

Josh Brookes completed the top six on a strong day for Jackson Racing with Jordan ahead in fourth.

Mike Browne, Dominic Herbertson, Ian Hutchinson and Michael Evans completed the top ten, while Supersport Race 1 podium winner James Hillier was forced to retire with technical issues.