Ian Hutchinson said he didn't feel he had a bike he could win on a♍s he prevailed in a nip and tuck RS💮T Superbike race to secure his 15th Isle of Man TT victory.

Hutchinson c𝓀ame through from fourth place on the opening laps to take up the lead and was pushed hard first by Dean Harrison and then Peter Hickman as he was forced to♎ dig deep to close out the win.

At the finish, the Tyco BMW rider had five seconds in hand over Hickman on the Smiths BMW, with Harrison in third (Silicoꦇne Engineering Kawasaki), a further 💃eight seconds in arrears.

"It was the strangest race around here because going into it, no-one knew what pace anyone had. I truly didn't have the bike to win the race and at the start I saw 'P4' b♑ut I didn't know how far I was behiℱnd the leader," he said.

"I had a bit of luck with people going out andꦉ on the last lap there had been a crash at Greeba Castle and m🧜yself and James Hillier caught a backmarker there and he slowed up a lot more than us.

"I just want to thank the marshals at the scene because they trust us to keep racing past, so thanks very much for that. Thanks 🔜to all my team for putting such a big effort in.

"This bike was built exactly the way I wanted it and we moved to the Dunlop tyres. We worked a lot o꧟n the pit stops from last year and it's nice to have some good stops for once."

It was Hutchinson's third win in the Superbike class, with his previous wins coming in ♉2010, when he won all five solo races to set a new record.

The 37-year-old has now moved ahead of Mike Hailwood in the TT's all-t🍨ime winners' roll of honour.