Eddie, you are entitled to your opinion and it's clear you hold it strongly. However, I have one request: please don't assume, second guess or otherwise infer that you know what a competitor goes through or thinks. You do not understand the type of pressure that comes with the TT. I have been fortunate enough to start in 44 TT races and have experienced the pressures that go with it.
Being encouraged to 'qualify' in as high a position as possible is not safe. Practice should be just that; practice. Everybody is different; some like to practice at race speed, flat out everywhere. Others prefer to get the feel of the bike and speed up gradually. Others are consistently slower than their race pace (for a number of reasons).
Come raceday, we go as quick as we can. That's because it's a race !! It is for this reason that speed differentials are actually greater in the race under the new system.
Practice is NOT a race !
The old system was better than the current system for both spectators and competitors alike. The old system seeded competitors on known ability obtained from RACE results, not practice times.
I am not aware of any competitors who favour the new system. I know that many spectators are unable to follow the progress of riders under the new system and they tell me this detracts from their enjoyment of, and engagement with, the races they are watching. Some have even gone as far as to say they will not return to watch under the new system.
Alienating the spectators is NOT the way forward !!
Pressurising competitors is NOT the way forward !!