R.I.P. - Marco Simoncelli Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) lost his life in a racing accident at the Sepang circuit. The 24 year old Italian was involved in an accident on lap two of the Malaysian GP. The race was instantly red flagged, and later cancelled. Medical staff were on the scene immediately and he was taken to the circuit Medical Centre. Unfortunately Marco's injuries were too severe and at 16h56 local time he was declared dead. The test scheduled for Mondaywith Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner on the 2012 prototypes at the Sepang Circuit has been cancelled. Shuhei Nakamoto - HRC Executive Vice President "I just don't know what to say, words escape me. Marco was a very nice guy and a very talented rider. Sometimes I was a little harsh with him, for example after his first MotoGP podium in Brno when I told him: "Lucky podium!" and he was so angry... but I wanted to motivate him as I knew he was able to do even more. I was thinking that when he won his first race we would have been able to celebrate together... Now I just want to say thank you to Marco, for what you gave me and pass my sincere condolences to his family and this very sad time". Dani Pedrosa "In a tragedy like this there is not much to say. I just want to give my condolences to his family and all the people who love him. I've been with his father and all we could do was to hug, nothing else matters. It was a fatal accident and everybody in the paddock remains in shock. Many times we ourselves forget how dangerous this sport can be and when you lose people on the way nothing has any meaning. It's clear that we all do what we like, what we love, but on days like today nothing matters". Andrea Dovizioso "In these circumstances, words don’t seem to be appropriate. I think of Marco’s family and all the people dear to him, in particular his father and mother. I also have a child and what happened today is the hardest situation you can imagine. I watched the images and I’m shocked: in a race you fight and push hard and disaster is often around the corner. Marco was a strong rider and he always pushed hard. We raced together since we were kids, I saw him always pushing to the maximum, he crashed many times, but without major injuries, he was seemed invincible. What happened today seems impossible". Casey Stoner "I'm so shocked and saddened by the loss of Marco. When things like this happen it reminds you how precious life is, it makes me feel sick inside. All I can say is how sorry I am for Marco's whole family I can't imagine what they are all going through and our thoughts and wishes are with them at this time. I hope they all stay close and pull through this tragedy together". Monster Energy mourns the loss.Monster Energy mourns the loss of rising MotoGP pilot, and San Carlo Honda 
Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli, after the young Italian racer
succumbed to injuries suffered during the second lap of Sunday’s
Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang, Malaysia.With his trademark wild hair, lust for life and passion for racing, Simoncelli embodied everything a MotoGP racer is known to be. The 24-year-old was calculating, yet aggressive on the track, while charismatic off of it. In 2008, he won the 250cc World Championship before graduating to the MotoGP grid full time last season. In his career prior to the jump, Simoncelli earned two wins in 125cc competition, in addition to 12 wins in the 250cc class, to go along with his 2008 title. Marco Simoncelli’s career was cut short just as he was beginning to show his championship potential in MotoGP. Through 16 rounds this season, Simoncelli had earned two pole positions and two podium results, including a career-best runner-up finish just a week prior at the Australian Grand Prix from Phillip Island. "This is a tremendous loss for the racing world,” said Bruce Stjernstrom, Monster Energy Vice President of Sports Marketing. "Marco was a rising star who was coming on strong in MotoGP. We will all miss the talented and charismatic rider greatly.” Monster Energy offers its sincerest sympathy and condolences to the entire Simoncelli family during this difficult time. Qualifying. Honda riders swept the top three spots in MotoGP qualifying for Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix, with Repsol Hondas going one-two-three on the sultry Sepang International Circuit. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) took his second pole of the season from teammate and recently crowned world champion Casey Stoner, with Andrea Dovizioso filling out the front row for Sunday’s penultimate round of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship. The session was thoroughly dominated by Honda riders, who were at the top of the time charts for every minute of the one hour session, held in typically tropical weather at the circuit on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) leapt to the top of the order at the start, soon to get into a battle with the Repsol Honda team. Less than ten minutes into the session Dovi took over and for the final 50 minutes a Repsol Honda rider would reign supreme. Still, there was drama. Pedrosa had a harmless get-off, from which he quickly recovered with no ill effects. The Spaniard was in control with 16 minutes to run when he was bested by team-mate Dovizioso, who fell victim to Stoner six minutes later before Pedrosa took the top spot with just over four minutes remaining. Stoner made one final run at Pedrosa with his final soft tyre, only to lose out on his 12th pole position by .029s. Dovi was another .175s back in third. The pole was the second for Pedrosa-his first came in the Czech Grand Prix-and the 15th in 17 races for Honda riders. Two of those 15 poles went to Simoncelli, who was fifth fastest today and might have been further up the grid had he not run into a small electrical issue with his ‘A’ bike. "Super Sic” was using a soft tyre and aiming for the front row when the problem cropped up. Forced onto his second bike, Simoncelli wasn’t as comfortable and wasn’t able to finish on the front row for the eighth time this season. Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V: 3rd – 2m, 2.105s "I was satisfied with our pace in the first half of the session when we were working on our race setting, but not so much with the 'time attack,' because just when we switched tyres I had a problem with a sensor and had to switch to my second bike which had a different setting that I wasn't as comfortable with. I was struggling a bit and instead of staying out there I decided to come back in and try to make a small change, but it didn't work out. Anyway, I am looking forward to tomorrow and feeling confident I can fight with the three guys on the front row. We just need to decide which tyre to use for the race.” Copy and photo montage courtesy of Honda Pro Racing. |