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.
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