Source: Supplied.

Dual MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo disagrees with race direction’s decision to hit Valentino Rossi with three penalty points, resulting in him starting from the back of the grid at the Valencia title showdown.

Rossi will enter November’s final race of the season with a seven-point advantage over Lorenzo after finishing third in Malaysia, but the dramatic Sepang clash with Marc Marquez has put his 10th world title hopes into major jeopardy.

Lorenzo said that Rossi should have had his 16 points scored on Sunday stripped, suggesting that his value to the series weighed on race direction’s decision. But he still respected their position.

“To be honest, I just hear the decision and I don’t think it’s a good decision, no,” Lorenzo stated. “Because he takes out Marc, and Marc crash, gets zero points, but Valentino gets 16 points. So I think it’s unfair and maybe because of his name he can get no points [deducted] or penalisation this time.

“It’s unbelievable. I saw it and I didn’t believe it, it doesn’t enter in my head to do these kind of things in my life. In this kind of corner that you are completely in the angle, braking in the angle, to put up straight the bike and slow the other rider and make like this with the leg, it’s unbelievable that this happen.

“But it happened and race direction made a decision and we have to respect it, but I don’t share it to be honest. Minimum, Valentino should have the same points as Marc because without this action, Marc would not crash and he will finish probably in third position or fourth position. If he didn’t finish the race and get zero points Valentino should make the same.

“With much less aggressive actions by other riders, they get much higher penalty sanctions but, as I say before, his name is very important for the championship and maybe because of that, he doesn’t get any sanction on points in the championship.

“Yeah, he will start last, but I think it is not fair. We have to respect it, I am not race direction and I was not involved in this action, but once knowing this decision I can say that I don’t share it.”

World championship leader Rossi was absent from the post-race press conference to address the media alongside Lorenzo and Repsol Honda’s Sepang race winner Dani Pedrosa.