McGuinness to ride for Team Winfield again at Classic TT

John McGuinness gets ready for the off at a previous Classic TT race. Picture: Pacemaker Press International

John McGuinness will once again ride for Team Winfield at this year's Classic TT races on the Isle of Man.

The Morecambe Missile will be joined by Honda Racing team mate Conor Cummins in one of the most successful outfits at the event in recent years.

The team will concentrate their efforts this year on the Bennetts Senior Classic TT race, the pair piloting Roger Winfield’s rapid 500cc Patons.

It’s the fourth year in a row that 23-time Isle of Man TT winner McGuinness has campaigned the Italian machine and both he and the team will be hoping for a change in fortune having yet to complete a race since the combination came together at the inaugural Classic TT in 2013.

The Morecambe Missile has shown his pace in practice, with his best lap to date coming in 2014 at 112.031mph, unofficially a class lap record, but on each occasion he’s been denied the victory he craves for.

However, there’s no doubt that the combination of McGuinness’s skill and talent and Winfield’s engineering expertise is one to be feared and they will come into this year’s event as one of the pre-race favourites again. If it all comes together on race day, McGuinness and the Paton will take some beating.

Team owner Roger Winfield said: “We had some terrible luck with John at the Classic TT and we hope this year will see an end to that and we can enjoy watching him complete four fast laps.

“There is no doubt that if he crosses the finish line, he is going to be among the leading riders and his times in practice previously make him unofficially the fastest rider ever in this class.”

The Classic TT takes place from August 27 to 29.