Marco Simoncelli

Marco Simoncelli

Simoncelli during post-season testing at Valencia in 2009
Personal information
Nickname(s)	Sic, SuperSic
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1987-01-20) January 20, 1987 (age 39) Cattolica, Italy
Died	October 23, 2011(2011-10-23) (aged 24) Sepang, Malaysia
Years active	2002–2011
Sport
Sport	Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Team	San Carlo Honda Gresini

Marco Simoncelli (20 January 1987 – 23 October 2011) was an Italian motorcycle racer. He competed in the Grand Prix motorcycle world championship for 10 years from 2002 to 2011. He is also the 2008 250cc World Champion.

Career

Simoncelli started competing in Grand Prix motorcycle racing in 2002, racing in the 125cc class. In his first season, he finished 33rd in the standings with 3 points. In 2003 he was 21st with 31 points, 11th with 79 points in 2004, and 5th with 177 points in 2005. He had changed teams multiple times, but he always used an Aprilia motorcycle.

For 2006, Simoncelli moved up to the 250cc class. He raced for the Metis Gilera team for all four seasons he spent in the class, with a Gilera motorcycle. In 2006, he finished 10th in the standings with 92 points. In 2007, he also finished 10th, but with 97 points. In 2008, he became world champion with 281 points. In 2009, he finished 3rd in the standings with 231 points.

Simoncelli moved up to the MotoGP class for 2010 with Gresini Racing, and he finished 11th in his first race of the season. He improved throughout the season, finishing 16 races out of 18. He finished 8th in the standings with 125 points. His best race finish was 4th in Portugal, 0.059 seconds behind Andrea Dovizioso.

For 2011, Simoncelli was given the same motorcycle as the factory Honda team, though he was still racing in Gresini. He finished fifth in the first round at Qatar, and crashed in Jerez. At the French round, he collided with Dani Pedrosa in a battle for second place. Pedrosa broke his collarbone in the crash and Simoncelli got a ride-through penalty, because of this he finished fifth. Simoncelli rejected the blame for the accident at first, and said that he braked where he normally did. But before the next race, he accepted that he had to change his riding style. In Czechia, he finished third. At Australia he finished second for the first time in the MotoGP class.

Death

Simoncelli died after an accident during the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang on 23 October 2011. On the second lap of the race in the 11th corner, Simoncelli lost grip on the front tyre as he entered the 11th corner, and his motorcycle started to slide to the outside of the corner into the gravel, but the tyre regained grip and the motorcycle suddenly turned back towards the inside of the corner. It moved into the paths of Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards, who had no time to avoid Simoncelli.

Simoncelli's helmet came off during the crash and Edwards was thrown off his motorcycle in the accident. The race was quickly stopped with a red flag. Simoncelli sustained serious injuries to his head, neck, and chest. He was taken to the circuit's medical center, where he was given CPR for 45 minutes. At 16:56 local time, it was announced that Simoncelli had died from his injuries.

References