Fourteen-time Isle of Man TT winner Peter Hickman has sustained chest, back, shoulder and facial injuries in a fall at Kerrowmoar that brought out red flags during the second session of Friday.
His condition has been described as ‘comfortable’ and ‘in good spirits’ by TT organisers after spending the night in Noble’s Hospital on the island.
The crash means that Hickman, very much expected to be one of the key protagonists in this year’s event, is now out of action for all of TT 2025’s races as he begins the recovery from his injuries.
Hickman's absence is a huge loss
Coming into this year's event, there's been so much hype around the rivalry between new 8Ten Racing team-mates Davey Todd and Peter Hickman, and fellow BMW racer Michael Dunlop - a battle that we're unfortunately now not going to see play out at this year's TT.
The scene was set even before the season kicked off with numerous jabs at each other in the media, and it's been something that Hickman in particular has enjoyed pushing as he looks to get back to winning ways after a rather uneventful TT in 2024 that ended with a crash only a few hundred metres from where his 2025 TT was curtailed.
That rivalry went into overdrive at the North West 200 earlier this month, too, when both Hickman and Dunlop went wide at the Magherabouy chicane and escaped punishment despite Dunlop failing to stop - something that led to him taking victory in the opening superbike race from Todd and ended with Hickman refusing to join the pair on the podium in disgust.
Beyond that, though, it very much looked like he and his newly-assembled and self-owned team were starting to come into form at this year's TT - and the lap he was pushing on when he fell was looking like it might be the first real shots fired by Hickman at his rivals in this year's event.
In his absence, this year's event is going to be a little less spectacular. One of the big protagonists has been taken out of play before we saw a race even happen.
What we know about the crash
Honda Racing rider Dean Harrison led the Friday night practice session away, with Hickman second on his superstock machine. The 8Ten Racing rider crashed at Kerrowmoar, a bumpy third-gear left hand corner taken by riders at over 100mph on a 1000cc machine.
Roughly halfway around the 37.73 mile lap, it’s almost directly after Ginger Hall, where Hickman fell in last year’s Senior TT while leading the race.
Hickman's BMW was smoking slightly when he left the start line on Glencrutchery Road, and initial reports suggest that it continued to emit smoke as he lapped, with reports from observers on track of the smell of burning rubber as he passed them.
His BMW M1000RR’s lower fairing looked visibly loose on the TT's live TV coverage only seconds before the fall, pointing to something out of the hands of Hickman - although it's unknown at this time if this was a contributing factor to his crash.
Following the red flags coming out, Hickman was transported by air ambulance to Noble’s hospital on the Isle of Man, where organisers described his condition at the time as conscious and stable and where he remains at this time.
The fall immediately brought out the red flags in the session, with riders stopped on track before being escorted back in a controlled-speed convoy by the TT’s travelling marshals.
It was due to get back underway shortly after their arrival back to the paddock, until rain showers on the west coast of the island brought running to a premature halt. The weather has also delayed the start of Saturday’s final qualifying session, with an originally scheduled start time of 1030 pushed back until at least 1300.
Earlier in the day, Tom Weeden was another faller during the supertwin practice session at Glen Helen. Posting on social media on Friday night, he confirmed his injuries as including a fractured left tibia and fibula, a badly broken right ankle, a fracture to his T12 vertebrae, and fractures to his hand and finger.
