October has been a very bad month indeed for motorsport. Only one week after former IndyCar champion Dan Wheldon was killed in a 15-vehicle pileup at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, tragedy struck again, this time at the Moto GP race in Malaysia.

It was only the second round of the race at the Sepang track when Marco Simoncelli lost control of his Honda bike and fell on the tarmac. For unknown reasons, his helmet came off when he was struck by Colin Edwards on a Yamaha and compatriot Valentino Rossi on a Ducatti, both of which were very close and could not avoid the unlucky Italian rider.

The race was immediately red-flagged and Simoncelli was rushed to the nearest hospital. Unfortunately, despite the doctors’ attempts, his injuries to the head, neck and chest were too severe and he suffered a cardiac arrest. After 45 minutes of CPR, at 16:56 local time, the 24-year old rider was announced dead.

Shuhei Nakamoto, HRC Executive Vice President, said:

“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 at this very sad time.”

Fellow Honda rider Dani Pedrosa, who earlier in the season had a dispute with the young Italian about his aggressive driving style, said:

“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 love, but on days like today nothing matters. 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 hug. Everyone in the paddock remains in shock.”

Born in 1987, Marco Simoncelli started racing at the tender age of nine in the Italian Minimoto Championship, which he won in 1999 and 2000. In 2005 he won the European 125 cc championship and in 2008 the 250 cc world championship.

Two years later, in 2010, he moved to the top MotoGP category and, despite being a rookie, he finished 16 of the 18 races of the season and clinched eighth place in the riders’ championship.

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