Lorenzo on Zarco: ‘It was like he was playing the Playstation’

Not for the first time in 2017, Johann Zarco has come under fire for aggressive riding, with Jorge Lorenzo the latest name to be nonplussed by an overtake attempted by the Frenchman, before stating he was riding ‘like he’s playing the Playstation.’

The pair came together on the fourth lap of the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi when Zarco had the inside line exiting turn nine. Lorenzo had run wide, but attempted to accelerate ahead, only to find the Tech 3 Yamaha in his way. They touched, with Lorenzo visibly rattled in the aftermath. 

The move drew Lorenzo’s ire, with the Majorcan likening Zarco’s overtaking style to the ‘time trial’ setting on the Playstation game, where the player races against a ‘ghost’, a figure it cannot hit. He had gone to speak to Zarco after the race he revealed, only to find him refusing to admit he had done wrong.

When the five-time world champion spoke to the press on Sunday evening, the incident was still at the forefront of his mind. “He needs to be more calm,” Lorenzo said, after stating he will bring up the Frenchman’s moves at the next meeting of the Safety Commission.

“You saw what happened,” said Lorenzo. “You know, it’s not the first time that he’s making these kinds of things. Not with me but with two or three riders. He keep doing that like he’s playing with the Playstation with the ghost setting. It looks like he doesn’t have anyone by his side. He’s inviting you, trying to get your position, very aggressively. It’s a contact and you need to go outside the track.

“The problem is that I went to his box but didn’t understand that he was making something bad. He will not change. Somebody maybe will have to tell him to be a bit more calm. He didn’t understand anything. He thought he was right and he’s doing good and you need to be careful. He needs to be more calm.”

Meanwhile Zarco played the whole incident down, and believed he was right to exercise his ‘advantage’ because he held the inside line on the corner exit.

“It was quite at the beginning of the race,” said Zarco after finishing eighth. “I was quite confident with the front, so in this corner nine, I could attack, then he tried to stay outside when I went out of the corner, I didn't see him and didn't think he could be there.

“We touched because acceleration went normally on my line and we touched each other. But it was normal in the race, and because I was inside I got this advantage.”

When Zarco moved by Lorenzo, it was for fourth place, and suggested the pole man could run with the leading trio of Danilo Petrucci, Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso.

Although unable to match their pace, the Frenchman held a solid fourth for much of the race, only to find his wet rear tyre had worn excessively in the closing laps, which allowed the Ecstar Suzukis of Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins, Lorenzo’s Ducati and Aleix Espargaro’s Aprilia through.

Still, the Frenchman focussed on the positives, stating he had made a big step with the front feeling of the M1 in wet conditions

“Good start, feeling was quite OK at the beginning,” he continued. “From the beginning I was sliding from the rear. I took the position, I was able to control, and overall my front feeling was very good. So I was able to stay on the brakes well, brake more or not. A bit on the limit for the entry of the corner. But I was good.

“Sometimes people overtook, but then I could stay with them. Always losing in acceleration, so we did the strongest point but it was the same. It was interesting, I had the same comment at the start of the season, but in dry conditions. And now at the same step in the wet. So it means we are doing a good job.

“And I was still waiting for a bit when I was put in fourth position, I was thinking, I want to get even more confident with the front, and then be step by step faster and maybe catch them, but it has been the opposite. I was always good on the brakes, but when the tire was getting used, then I was even more on the limit, and at the end of the race there was not enough tyre.

“I was spinning a lot, a lot of aquaplaning, even in the straight. I tried to find a solution, to keep full throttle or close the throttle to catch back some grip, but like Rins or the other guys were passing me in the straight, and I was losing all the time. The middle of the tire was completely finished, and that was the reason that I lost a lot of positions at the end.”