Tuesday Video: A tribute to Marco Simoncelli

This week’s Tuesday video is a tribute to MotoGP star Marco Simoncelli, who lost his life in the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Firstly, here’s the MotoGP’s tribute to the charismatic Italian:

Here, Marco tries his hand at rallying with Jonathan Rea:

As a sidenote, it has been very hard to find YouTube footage that doesn’t involve Simoncelli’s fatal accident. If you have seen any good videos of Marco (or Dan Wheldon) then please share in the comments.

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Picture Credits: Neal Brown

MotoGP: Simoncelli in fatal crash

Marco Simoncelli 20 January 1987 – 23 October 2011

October continues to be a sad month for motorsport with the news this morning that Marco Simoncelli died during the MotoGP race at Sepang, Malaysia.

Simoncelli lost control on lap two, losing his helmet before being hit by Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi.

The race was red flagged with Simoncelli lying motionless on the track.

BBC reporter Matt Roberts said:

“Marco lost his helmet in the crash. The officials said that, when the track medics got to him, he was in cardiac arrest. They tried to resuscitate him in the ambulance and the medical centre.

“Both riders collided with him and the impact corresponded to him losing his helmet. The saddest thing is that Valentino [Rossi] and Marco were very close friends.

“Colin [Edwards] has a dislocated shoulder and is in a lot of pain. He and Valentino are absolutely devastated.”

The Honda rider was highly regarded as a future World Champion and his death, alongside that of Dan Wheldon last weekend, throws into question the safety standards of some areas of motorsport.

For the latest news, follow The Pitstraight on Twitter (click here); like us on Facebook (click here); or subscribe to our email list. Alternatively, you can subscribe to our RSS feed (click here). Keep an eye out for The Pitstraight Podcast on iTunes and other podcasting software.