The FHO Racing rider came into the opening Superbike race of the week as one of the favourites for the victory, having been on the podium in the class every year since 2019.
While making a strong start on his BMW M1000RR, Hickman was out of the podium places and over 30 seconds down on race leader Michael Dunlop at the end of lap four of six when he came in for his final pitstop.
But a helmet issue for Dunlop which cost him over 40s and a restart problem for second-placed Todd in the pits turned the race on its head, with Hickman coming through to take an unlikely 14th TT win.
There were reports of some visor steaming issues for Hickman, but he later told the TT+ live feed that he simply wasn’t quick enough on his BMW as “the bike was moving around a lot more than it had done in practice”.
“The first couple of laps in particular, I just didn’t seem to have the pace,” he said.
“The bike was moving around a lot more than it had done in practice, but to be honest I don’t think there was necessarily an issue. I don’t know, that was just the feeling I had from the bike, and I just wasn’t fast enough, to be totally honest.
“Everything worked pretty well. I mean, to be fair, we’ve been gifted it a little bit, but it is an endurance race.
“I’ve lost races here because of bike problems and other things, so it’s swings and roundabouts. We have been gifted it a little bit, but to finish first, first you’ve got to finish.”
Hickman equals grand prix legend Mike Hailwood’s tally of 14 TT wins, a feat he called “unbelievable”.
Todd recovered to second place after losing 20s in the pits due to an issue getting his TAS Racing BMW restarted, while revealing that he also suffered arm pump early in the race.
“Awesome to get the first [Superbike] podium, but to be honest I ended up where I think we should have ended up in that race,” said Todd.
“I think Michael was away, Michael was riding so well.
“I was riding my ass off, trying my best, pushed a little bit too hard on that first lap and got a bit of arm pump on that second lap, which isn’t normal for me. I don’t know where that came from, but I felt a little bit better on three and four.
“Came into that second pitstop and the bike wouldn’t start after the pitstop. Not a clue why, it’s never had a problem before, never had this issue. Whatever we seemed to do and it just wouldn’t go again.
“Sure enough, we came out of pitlane and there’s Michael just setting off as well and knew there must have been something gone wrong. Weird when the race is won and lost in the pitstops.”
Harrison noted his victory charge on the Honda was hindered by the bike becoming less stable as the fuel load lightened, but third is a strong result given the issues he had on that bike during practice week.
“When the fuel tank’s full, the bike’s quite settled,” the Honda rider said.
“I was really struggling on the second lap after the fuel stops all the time with a little bit of movement and I was holding on and it was taking so much energy out of myself.
“I was really, really struggling, and then Michael came through and I could live with him and I was using him as a gauge all the time and he was dragging me forward.
“We came out of the pits to start lap five and I saw his visor come off. I thought ‘my tow’s gone, I need to get stuck in now and go’.
“But for the fifth lap I was fine and the last lap I really struggled when the fuel load dropped. So, we’ve got a good load of data with the new Fireblade now, so there’s room for improvement later on in the week.”
