Peter Hickman explains “component failure” behind Isle of Man TT accident

Peter Hickman has confirmed that a “component failure” was responsible for the high-speed qualifying crash that ruled him out of this year’s Isle of Man TT.

The 14-time TT winner sustained multiple injuries in a 140mph accident from his 8TEN Racing BMW at Kerrowmoar, during the opening lap of the third Superbike and Superstock qualifying session.

Hickman suffered broken ribs, vertebrae, a collarbone and a fractured scapula in the incident, which occurred just after the Kerrowmoar left-hand turn.

Initial speculation suggested a fairing failure or oil on the track.

However, Hickman has revealed that contact between the exhaust and rear tyre caused the accident - the result of a failed exhaust mounting bracket.

In a video posted to Instagram, Hickman said:

“Sorry it's taken me a while to give you a little update on my condition, but here it is! It's been two and a half weeks since I had quite a fast crash at the Isle of Man TT 2025.

“Condition wise, I'm not too bad. I've got quite a lot of broken bones. I've broken my left collarbone, my left scapula and my shoulder blade down the back is in three pieces. I broke three ribs and four vertebrae in my back.

“So not ideal, but I just want say a massive thanks to the marshals and medics that looked after me at the time. They did a fantastic job. I don't remember much about it because I was knocked out. I don't remember the lap leading up to it and in fact, the first time I properly woke up, I woke up in hospital.

“So it's a bit of a new experience for me. In my 25-year career, I've not been knocked out before! But these things happen. Just a massive thanks to the marshals, medics, staff, the organisers and of course, all you guys back home, the fans.

“I’ve had lots and lots of messages about my condition and hoping that I'm well. I just want to say thank you to everybody. I can't reply to everyone. I do read them. So thank you very much if you have sent a message, it really means the world.

“You can see now I still have some black eyes! I'm pretty battered and bruised all over the place.

“I crashed at a place called Kerrowmoar. It's actually just after the Kerrowmoar left. It's through the next right. Unfortunately, it was a component failure, so it wasn't actually my fault.

“The team are doing some more analysis at the minute. But it wasn't the fairing, like was speculated about. It wasn't oil either. I know a lot of people thought they saw smoke.

“Unfortunately, it was some bracketry that holds the exhaust in place. Didn't come loose — it broke in theory and pushed the exhaust into the rear wheel and popped the rear tyre. That was actually why I crashed. Which is not obviously ideal at all.

“But I've been going to the Isle of Man TT now for 10 years. This is the first major problem that I’ve had, touch wood. It's just one of those things.

“I want to thank the 8TEN Racing BMW team by Monster Energy. They looked after me loads. It's none of the guys’ fault at all who have been working on the bike.

“The bike had generally been faultless. Obviously, it is a brand-new bike to us. We've not done a lot of testing and things like this can happen sometimes.”