Additional late morning qualifying session to be held on Thursday 29th May

The Isle of Man Government and ACU Events have released the regulations that the 2014 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy will be run under, confirming the times and dates of the qualifying sessions and races.

The race schedule is broadly the same as 2013 with four race days, starting with the Dainese Superbike Race on Saturday 31st May at 11.00am followed by the first Sure Sidecar Race at 2pm.

Monday 2nd June opens up with the first Monster Energy Supersport Race at 10.45am with the RL 360 Superstock Race at 2pm. Wednesday 4th June sees three races, beginning with the SES TT Zero Challenge at 10.45am followed by the second Monster Energy Supersport Race and concluding with the second Sure Sidecar Race.

The race meeting concludes on Friday 6th June with the bikesocial.co.uk Lightweight TT ahead of the traditional climax of the meeting, the PokerStars Senior TT.

The Qualifying schedule begins with the opportunity for solo and sidecar newcomers to get their speed controlled laps on Saturday 24th May from 6.20pm before Lightweight and Sidecar competitors get their first laps in from 6.50pm. Supersport, Superstock and Superbike competitors will begin their qualifying from Monday 26th May. Dedicated qualifying sessions continue until Friday 30th May and there are also qualifying sessions scheduled on all race days.

However, in a change to previous years, subject to a public consultation there will be an additional qualifying session on Thursday 29th May for all classes from 10.15am to 12.40pm. Superbike, Superstock and Supersport machines will go out between 10.15am and 11.00am with Supersport and Lightweight machines scheduled to be on track between 11.05am and 11.50am and Sidecars from 11.55am to 12.40pm.

Commenting on the change, Clerk of the Course Gary Thompson, MBE, Director, ACU Events said: "We have proposed an additional qualifying session this year to mitigate against restricted practice time to ensure that machines and riders are given every opportunity to practice ahead of races. Last year we had to postpone the Superbike Race to allow riders to get additional practice time."

"We will be consulting with all relevant parties to ensure that the additional session may be possible in order to minimise any perceived disruption to the public. I would like to thank both the Isle of Man Government's Department of Infrastructure and the Isle of Man TT Marshals Association for their support."

Entries for the 2014 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy are now open. Competitors and teams wishing to enter should go here to register. Entries close for the 2014 event on 28th of February.