LCR has announced that Johann Zarco will make his MotoGP comeback at the Aragon Grand Prix, which is due to take place from 28-30 August, provided he passes a medical evaluation next Thursday.
Zarco suffered a horrifying crash at Turn 1 during the first restart at the Catalan Grand Prix in May. In the accident, which also involved Luca Marini and Francesco Bagnaia, Zarco’s left leg became caught in the rear wheel of the latter’s Ducati, and he suffered a nasty ligament injury in his knee as well as a deep burn in the same area.
Initially, the doctors opted to wait for the inflammation in his knee to go down and for the burn to recover before operating on him, but as the days went by, the diagnosis by doctor Bertrand Sonnery-Cottet and his team in Lyon changed to conservative treatment, with Zarco avoiding surgery and LCR announcing a possible return in September.
However, according to Honda’s satellite team, "Johann’s recovery has progressed favourably in recent weeks, which has allowed him to bring forward his return to the track."
In the same statement, it added that Zarco "has progressively increased his workload, riding both a supermotard and a Honda CBR1000RR as part of his rehabilitation", as Motorsport.com previously reported on 7 August.
The conclusion is that "after having progressed steadily and having received clearance from his medical team to return to racing, Zarco will travel to Aragon with the aim of returning to competition, subject to passing the mandatory medical evaluation at the circuit.”
In a post on social media, Zarco wrote: “I’m pretty happy with how the knee is progressing and recovering. I feel good enough to jump back on the MotoGP bike, and I’m really looking forward to getting back to racing.
"The Supermoto and CBR have been great for building up the intensity and doing long runs. I’ve really missed my team, racing and the paddock, so I can’t wait to be back in Aragon!”
Zarco has already spent 96 days out of action since suffering his injury on 17 May, a period in which he missed six grands prix: Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Germany and Great Britain. If he returns for FP1 at the Aragon GP on 28 August, he will have been sidelined for more than 100 days.
During that stretch of races, LCR counted on the formidable contribution of British rider Cal Crutchlow, who made a surprise comeback after retiring from MotoGP in 2020. The 40-year-old failed to score any points in any of the six weekends he took part in, but he came very close in Hungary and the Netherlands, where he crossed the finish line in 16th.
Although LCR has full confidence in Zarco’s recovery, everything indicates that Crutchlow will travel to Aragon in case the Frenchman is unable to pass the medical examination performed by Dr Angel Charte at the circuit. Crutchlow is also understood to be focusing on his fitness for the rest of the season in case his services are required again in any of the ten remaining grands prix this season.
