The 99th anniversary Isle of Man TT Festival ran between Saturday 27 May and Friday 9 June on the 37.73-mile Mountain Course. The first week (between 27 May and 2 June) is known as the practice week, before the real action commenced on 3 June. There were 6 races in TT week. John McGuinness broke the lap record during practice for the Superbike race and then did it again in the race itself. He recorded a lap of 17:41.71, breaking the Superbike record from last year by 8.62 seconds and his outright lap record by 2.1 seconds.
McGuinness then went on to take his first TT hat-trick by winning the Senior TT on 9 June, destroying the lap record in the process. He set a lap of 17:39.95 from a standing start then 17:29.26 on his 2nd lap (breaking his own lap record by 10 seconds). However, the meeting was overshadowed by the death of Japanese rider Jun Maeda on 6 June due to injuries suffered in a practice crash.