move into a 13-point championship
lead.
Lopez looked set for a rookie
win in just his sixth Moto2 race
but once clear of the brawling
pack of Jake Dixon (GasGas As-
par), Aron Canet (FlexBox HP40)
and Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda
Team Asia), Fernandez shut
down Lopez's one-second lead
over the final eight laps, mak-
ing the coup de grace with just
three corners to go, diving down
the inside at the Brooklands
left-hander and holding on for
a minuscule 0.070 of-a-second
margin of victory.
Third went to home hero Dixon
from Ogura and Canet, while
erstwhile championship leader
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 32 AUGUST 9, 2022 P69
DUCATI DEBUTS
"STEGOSAURUS" WINGS
Ducati continued to push the bound-
aries with its aerodynamics innova-
tions at Silverstone with a number
of its riders testing a new seat unit
which features four aerodynamic
fins—dubbed the "stegosaurus"
wings due to their resemblance to
the dinosaur. The tail section of a
MotoGP bike is not part of the aero
body, which is deemed to be the
fairing and the front fender. Thus,
dimensions are the only restrictions.
Aero there is allowed to be a maxi-
mum width of 250mm and height of
150mm above the plane of the seat.
ESPARGARO'S
MASSIVE CRASH
Aleix Espargaro's participation in the
British GP was in some doubt on
Saturday evening after the Catalan's
massive highside in FP4 left him with
two badly bruised feet. Espargaro
suffered the highside on his second
flying lap of the session at turn 12. Yet
less than two hours later he heroically
qualified his Aprilia sixth on the grid
after breaking the previous outright
circuit record. Even still, his team was
concerned regarding Sunday. "He
is not in a super shape," said Aprilia
CEO Massimo Rivola. "I would say
that from the knees up he is still good,
and he is still very motivated, but to
be honest I'm not so sure that he can
race tomorrow. Espargaro raced to
ninth place on Sunday.
ESPARGARO SIGNS
DEAL WITH KTM
Pol Espargaro has signed a deal to
return to KTM in 2023 and '24 with
the Austrian factory's satellite team,
Tech 3. The Catalan has endured a
Briefly...
(Above) Gardner (87) held on for
18th on the Tech3 KTM. (Left)
Franco Morbidelli's (21) miserable
run continued with 15th place.
