The 48-year-old veteran road racer and 23-times TT winner lapped the 9-mile, closed public roads circuit at Portrush, Co. Antrim in a time of 4m41.34s at an average speed of 114.73mph on Tuesday evening, four seconds faster than the second-placed Yamaha of Ian Lougher.

With yesterday evening’s practice cancelled due to poor visibility, Iain Duffus on a Honda FireBlade remained third fastest with David Jefferies completing the front row.

Honda’s Adrian Archibald will start the two six-lap superbike races from the head of row two on another FireBlade, with John McGuinness on the second Vimto Honda VTR alongside him. Michael Rutter (Yamaha) and Honda’s Jim Moodie round out the second row.

Dunlop will also start from the front row in the Supersport 600, the 250 and the 125 race, where he will line up alongside his brother, Robert, who starts from pole position on his Honda RS125.

"It’s good to be on the front row with every bike," commented Dunlop, who hasn’t won a race at the North West 200 meeting since 1988. "I’m very impressed by the Honda VTR. It’s the first four-stroke V-twin I’ve raced and I expected a lot more vibration. It’s actually very smooth and runs like it’s on rails round here."

In addition to the two Dunlop brothers, Honda riders took pole position in every class for this weekend’s North West 200 meeting, one of Ireland’s largest outside sporting events which regularly attracts crowds of more than 120,000. Ian Lougher heads the pack for the 250 race on an RS250, while Iain Duffus and Adrian Archibald will start the 600 and Production races respectively from pole position on their Honda CBR machines.

Coca-Cola International Northwest 200, final superbike qualifying: 1 Joey Dunlop (Honda) 4m41.34s (114.73mph), 2 Ian Lougher (Yamaha) 4:45.34, 3 Iain Duffus (Honda) 4:45.79, 4 David Jefferies (Yamaha) 4:46.59, 5 Adrian Archibald (Honda) 4:47.47, 6 John McGuinness (Honda) 4:47.77, 7 Michael Rutter (Yamaha) 4:50.29, 8 Jim Moodie (Honda) 4:51.10.

Supersport 600 qualifying: 1 Iain Duffus (Honda) 4m52.53s (110.10mph), 2 David Jefferies (Yamaha) 4:53.17, 3 Adrian Archibald (Honda) 4:54.16, 4 Joey Dunlop (Honda) 4:54.17, 5 Jim Moodie (Honda) 4:56.12, 6 Callum Ramsay (Yamaha) 5:00.78, 7 Adrian McFarland (Yamaha) 5:02.76, 8 Richard Quayle (Honda) 5:03.32.

Production qualifying: 1 Adrian Archibald (Honda) 4m46.63s (112.61mph), 2 Iain Duffus (Honda) 4:47.39, 3 Jim Moodie (Honda) 4:51.10, 4 Graham Ward (Suzuki) 4:53.00, 5 Richard Britton (Yamaha) 4:54.92, 6 Jago Chapman (Yamaha) 4:57.46, 7 Brian Gardiner (Yamaha) 5:03.65, 8 Woolsey Coulter (Aprilia) 5:04.08.

250 qualifying: 1 Ian Lougher (Honda) 5m01.07s, (107.21mph), 2 Joey Dunlop (Honda) 5:01.66, 3 Callum Ramsay (Yamaha) 5:03.00, 4 Alan Paterson (Honda) 5:03.90, 5 John McGuinness (Honda) 5:05.06, 6 Denis McCullough (Honda) 5:06.20, 7 Neil Richardson (Honda) 5:09.20, 8 Richard Quayle (Honda) 5:10.69.

125 qualifying (all Honda): 1 Robert Dunlop 5m21.36s (100.44mph), 2 Joey Dunlop 5:22.18, 3 Ian Lougher 5:25.69, 4 Paul Robinson 5:25.89, 5 Chris Palmer 5:26.36, 6 Denis McCullough 5:28.17, 7 David Lemon 5:28.19, 8 Michael Wilcox 5:30.38.