Wednesday’s race started two and a quarter hours later than originally scheduled because of weather problems, a road traffic accident and a non-racing related medical emergency but when the action did begin, it was Dunlop who immediately headed the timings in the windy conditions.
Sporting a primarily yellow livery in recognition of one of Ducati’s preferred colours, in addition to their more customary red, Dunlop found it hard to shake off the challenge of Harrison and Todd on their respective Hondas on lap one, the margin of his lead fluctuating.
By the end of the opening circuit, he had 1.9 seconds to spare over Harrison, with James Hillier moving into third, before the Hampshire rider retired on the second lap.
Dunlop gradually extended his advantage thereafter, enjoying a lead of 15.9 seconds after his second circuit and increasing that to 21.5 seconds by the end of lap three and then by a further 4.5 seconds.
His fastest lap of the race, 129.297mph on lap two, was marginally slower than the 130.313 he managed in race one, due to the breezy conditions.
Having also won Supertwins race one on Tuesday, the TT wins record holder will have opportunities to secure a fifth four-timer of his TT career when he takes in the second Superstock and Supertwins races on Friday and the blue riband event of the meeting, the Senior TT, on Saturday.
Behind Harrison, who took his fourth podium of the week, and Todd, Paul Jordan finished fourth, James Hind fifth and Josh Brookes sixth.
In the other solo races held so far this week, Davey Todd took his third TT success by winning the Superbike event and Dean Harrison secured his fourth victory and his first for six years by coming out on top in Superstock race one, giving Honda a first triumph in that class since 2013 and ending the domination of BMW, who had won the previous eight editions from 2016 onwards.
