Johann Zarco has defended his actions in Sunday's Austin MotoGP race by insisting his attempted move to pass Valentino Rossi at turn three was 'on the limit, it was OK'.

The Frenchman came in for criticism from the nine-time Italian world champion after the race, when Rossi was penalised a measly 0.3s for cutting across the infield at turn three after taking evasive action.

"This is not Moto2," began Rossi's comments when quizzed on the incident post-race. "If you want to overtake you have to overtake in another way. He always arrive too much in delay. For me you have to stay more quiet."

It didn't matter in the end but should Rossi have been given the (0.3s) penalty for gaining time after this incident with Zarco? #AmericasGP pic.twitter.com/7koycsoo9n-- Crash.net MotoGP (@crash_motogp) April 23, 2017

But Zarco was unmoved. Clearly unfazed by the incident, and emboldened by a second straight fifth place, the 26-year old is turning many heads and ruffling some feathers with his speed. Three races into his MotoGP career, and Zarco is quickly gaining the reputation for the spectacular.

"No, that's MotoGP, that's why maybe the way I did it could not go. But it was necessary to do it like this, because there was an opportunity to pass him, and if asked myself, can I do it? Maybe I crash, so necessary just to do it.

"[It was] Because he was not so fast in corner two, because of the mistake in corner one, you need to anticipate a lot. So I said, this is the opportunity to go through at corner three. But he was able to come quite fast in corner 3, and as I say, I took the decision to do it, so I did, and it was on the limit, but it was OK.



"The worst thing in this condition is that we have lost the contact with the Honda guys, and he was able then to catch them in the end. But for me, I lost the contact, and could not follow him any more. But I think it's a race situation, and it can happen."

Zarco eventually lost touch with Rossi and then fell into the grasp of the oncoming Cal Crutchlow. Spending time in this exalted company delighted the Frenchman, who said he felt 'fantastic' during most of the race.

"I Feel good. Very happy with the start. The first corner is never easy, and I just wanted to go through this first corner. It's difficult to overtake, so I lost some positions. I was feeling good on the bike and the target was to stay with the top guys. I was able to overtake these few guys that passed me before, and tried to follow the tempo.

"Vi?ales crashed, and I thought, OK, I can follow Valentino, and also the two factory Honda guys were managing the race. So I was quite close and it was fantastic. He was able to be faster than me. I tried to save fourth, but Crutchlow also in the end has been a little bit faster.

"I enjoyed it a lot, I'm a little bit tired after this race, but fifth position is just fantastic. I'm learning, I said that I wanted to be really close to the podium, and it was possible to catch it, and we can see that today it was not so far.

"The bike is good, and I want to push to have a high target in mind, I keep saying I want to be close to the podium, the bike has the potential to do it. So we worked very well this weekend, and the podium was quite close.

"So [I have to] keep working and dreaming of the podium. Because Valentino has so much experience, and when I followed him I could see that I think he made the difference, because his experience, knowing perfectly the things on the Yamaha. When I can know that and feel that, I can also be on the podium."