Stoner, Lorenzo comment on Zarco penalty

MotoGP stars Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner agreed that Johann Zarco's final turn 125cc victory pass on Nico Terol wasn't clean, but felt that the 20-second post-race penalty that dropped the Frenchman to sixth had been excessive.

Zarco thought he had taken his first grand prix victory after diving under Terol on entry to the final turn, but the Aspar rider kept the power on around the outside - until Zarco closed the door by (lightly) elbowing him over the kerb and onto the grass.

Overtaking around the outside usually requires 'assistance' from the other rider, and Terol was always at risk of being forced wide if he couldn't get in front by the exit.

But Race Direction took a dim view of Zarco's tactics, declared the move 'illegal' and - with a ride-through not possible - added 20-seconds to his race time.

"I think that the move from Zarco was not very clean, but I also feel that the 20-second penalty was not fair," said MotoGP world champion Lorenzo. "Maybe it would be more fair to just put Zarco in second position, the position he would have been in if he hadn't made the move."

"I saw what Zarco did and didn't think it was correct," added Stoner, winner of the MotoGP race. "I didn't see the rest of the race so I don't know if Nico did anything to him, as it seemed like a bit of retaliation. I haven't seen Zarco do anything like that before. It was quite strange.

"But I agree with Jorge that the penalty was pretty harsh. They've been saying on the last lap of the race it's ok to do some fighting and things like that, but earlier on it's a different story.

"20 seconds is maybe a bit harsh. 10 seconds or put him back one or two positions is a better idea."