CoC: Riders can travel against course in ‘extreme circumstances’

Riders competing on the Mountain Course can be brought back to The Grandstand the wrong way around the circuit in ‘extreme circumstances’.

It happened on Sunday (18 August) after a red flag in the first qualifying session of the 2024 Manx Grand Prix.

This followed an incident near Kate's Cottage which saw the death of rider Louis O’Regan.

The decision led to social media speculation with many people referring back to an incident in TT six years ago in which a racer suffered life changing injuries after a collision with a course inspection car.

It happened on 30 May 2018 during a qualifying session which had been red flagged due to a fatal collision at Churchtown.

The course inspection car had been tasked with transporting two police officers to the scene and was travelling in the normal direction of racing.

But on the approach to Ballacrye the driver, Shaun Counsell, encountered a group of competitors including Stever Mercer who had been allowed to return to the paddock against the normal direction of travel.

However Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson told Manx Radio changes have been made since then – including the use of GPS tracking devices - which make decisions to alter the course much safer:

You can hear more from Gary in our latest Newscast: