Aleix Espargaró saves the World Cup: heroic recovery in the classification after a hard fall

Johann Zarco

got his second "pole position" of the season this Saturday, but the real protagonist of the qualifying session for the MotoGP British Grand Prix, which takes place on Sunday at the Silverstone circuit, was

, who resurfaced after "bottoming out" due to a sharp drop.

The fourth practice session did not start too well for Espargaró, who on the third lap of the British circuit was blown up at turn 12 and all the alarms went off as he had to be evacuated to the circuit clinic after the strong blow he suffered .

Although Aleix Espargaró entered the circuit clinic on his own feet, limping with his right leg, in which he suffered a strong blow to the calcaneus area, as the circuit doctors later confirmed, after the examination in which he was submitted by the medical director of the championship,

, the pilot was declared "fit", whose wish was to be able to dispute the official classification.

Aleix Espargaró, who was diagnosed with a bilateral contusion of both ankles and a calcaneal contusion of the right foot, was able to fulfill his objective and engineers and mechanics from the Noale manufacturer had to work hard to fine-tune all the material that he was going to be able to dispose of the second classified in the MotoGP World Championship to maintain the closest and most balanced fight possible with his direct rival,

, who did not miss any opportunity to put into practice the "long lap" of penalty that he will have to serve this Sunday at Silverstone.

The Aprilia rider began the official classification "softly" and little by little "warmed up" until he starred in a spectacular lap, the first one under a minute and 58 seconds on the British track, although in the end he finished sixth, but showing with his performance from the "ashes" of his heavy fall, that this will not prevent him from defending his chances for the title in the best possible way.

the first beats

The Italian

and his compatriot

were the ones who achieved the pass to the second classification, in the case of the latter after unseating the South African

in the last lap by just 97 thousandths of a second, while the "debacle " of the Honda representatives, with

as the best of them all in seventh position and Repsol Honda official

, ninth, more than seven tenths of a second behind the first.

Pol Espargaró, who used the latest aerodynamic evolution made available to him by the Japanese manufacturer, spent much of the session far, far away from the leading times and only at the end managed to improve, but never to be, like last year , in the "pole position" of the category, not even to access the second direct classification.

From that moment on, the attention was on the Aprilia workshops, awaiting the arrival of Aleix Espargaró, who did not disappoint the fans and immediately took his seat in his position inside the workshop to finalize the details of the classification before for it to start.

The Resurrection of Espargaro

Espargaró did not take long to get out on the track, somewhat limping, but with the spirit intact to try to fight for the best possible classification and at the first change he got the ninth fastest time, with

as the fastest in the initial moments, although it took him The position was little because behind, when crossing the finish line, Fabio Quartararo took first place with 1:58.259, just one thousandth of a second ahead of

and

.

Like the resurgence of the Phoenix, Aleix Espargaró was the first to break the 1:58 barrier to shoot in 1:57.966 and show that despite his sharp fall he was going to try to be as high as possible, knowing that all his rivals They were going to attack their best time, as it was, because both Johann Zarco and Maverick Viñales, Jack Miller, Fabio Quartararo and "Pecco" Bagnaia lowered it, beating the first eight classified the absolute record of the circuit, which was held by Marc Márquez since 2019 (1:58.168).

Zarco was the fastest in the end, barely 98 thousandths of a second ahead of Maverick Viñales and from him to Aleix Espargaró, sixth, passing Miller, Quartararo and Bagnaia, in less than two tenths of a second.

The third row went to the Italians

and

, together with Jorge Martín, and already with the Italian

and

and

, in the fourth.

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