road racer.A top rider of the Italian Minimoto Championship from 1996 to 2000, Marco Simoncelli moved to 125cc bikes after taking two consecutive titles in the aforementioned discipline. After a promising first season in the 125 Honda Trophy, Simoncelli took the European 125cc title in 2002 and had a first taste of Grand Prix racing the same year.
In 2003 he undertook his first full season in the World Championship with the Matteoni Racing team. A consistent point-scorer in his rookie season, he moved to the Rauch Bravo team in 2004 and scored his first Grand Prix win at a rain-soaked Jerez, but could only manage an eleventh placed finish overall.
Another 125cc campaign in 2005, with the Nocable.it Race team, was completed with an improvement in the final standings in fifth place, giving Simoncelli the opportunity to leap into the quarter-litre category. A steady season saw the Italian achieve 10th position in the championship representing Metis Gilera, with whom he continued in 2007 and 2008.
In 2008 Simoncelli achieved his first race victories in the 250cc class, his maiden triumph coming at his home race in Mugello, and was involved in some breathtaking battles with his rivals over the course of the year. Emerging as the standout rider in the class, Gilera provided their newest star with a top-of-the-range RSA machine for the final races of the season.
The Italian secured his fifth win of the year at Phillip Island early in October and clinched the title with third place at Malaysia at the penultimate round of the year. He previously rode a Gilera in the 250cc World Championship, and has previously in the 125cc class. He has five race wins in the 250cc class, and two in the 125cc class.
He made a one-off appearance for Aprilia in the World Superbike round at Imola. He qualified on the second row and was one of three riders to crash out of race one at Tosa while running fifth, before fighting through to third in race two, making a forceful move to overtake team-mate Max Biaggi to get onto the podium.
On 25 June 2009, it was confirmed that Simoncelli would move up to premier class racing for 2010 MotoGP championship after agreeing to ride with the San Carlo Gresini Honda team.
Simoncelli died after an accident during the 2011 Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix on 23 October 2011.
He won European 125cc title in 2002, also making six appearances in the 125cc World Championship. In the 2003 season, he moved to the World Championship full-time. His best result was a fourth place in the season finale at the Valencia Grand Prix.
In the 2004 season, he took his first victory in wet weather in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez. This was only highlight of his season, and he ended in eleventh place in the final standings. In the 2005 season he won at Jerez again, this time in dry conditions. This result and five other podium finishes helped him to come fifth overall.
Move to 250cc
In 2006 he was the only front-runner to move to the 250cc class, riding for Gilera, which marked their return to the class. His first season was good although not brilliant. In most races he finished between 7th and 10th place. His best result was 6th place in the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai. He fought for the "Rookie of the Year" title until the end, finally losing to Shuhei Aoyama by seven points. In final standings he was 10th.
In 2007 he continued with the same team. His season was similar to previous one and he was again 10th in the final standings, without a podium finish.
He had his first 250cc win at the Italian GP held at Mugello on 1 June 2008 in controversial circumstances when, with one lap to go, he leaned to the left on the long straight, possibly to block off Hector Barbera. Barbera then crashed into him and Simoncelli won the race by 3 seconds. Barbera was lucky to emerge unscathed. Some people called for sanctions but Simoncelli escaped without penalty: on 7 June he received a verbal warning from the MotoGP Riders Safety Commission.
On 8 June 2008 he followed up his Italian victory at the Grand Prix de Catalunya after overtaking Alvaro Bautista on the last lap after the Spanish pilot ran wide with 5 corners of the race left. Simoncelli obtained his third 250cc GP victory at the Sachsenring in the Gran Prix Deutchland on 13 July 2008 when he beat Alvaro Bautista and Hector Barbera by approximately 2.5 seconds. He also won in his class at the 2008 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix held on 3–5 October 2008. He narrowly defeated Alvaro Bautista.
On 19 October 2008 he clinched the 2008 250cc World Championship after finishing 3rd in the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.
Simoncelli got off to a slow start to the 2010 season, having suffered two preseason testing crashes at Sepang; the second of which cracked his helmet. After finishing eleventh on début, Simoncelli improved over the rest of the season, finishing 16 of the 18 races in the points en route to eighth place in the championship with 125 points. His best finish was a fourth place in Portugal, missing a podium by 0.06 seconds to Andrea Dovizioso.
In the 2011 season, Simoncelli was predicted to be the surprise package of the season. He finished fifth in the season opening race in Qatar, before falling from the lead of the wet race at Jerez. He secured his highest starting position to that point of 2nd, before falling on the first lap of the Estoril race During the French Grand Prix at Le Mans, Simoncelli collided with Dani Pedrosa while they were battling for second. The resulting crash saw Pedrosa break his collarbone and Simoncelli received a ride-through penalty, eventually finishing fifth.Simoncelli initially rejected blame for the crash, claiming he braked no later than normal, and that he left Pedrosa room. Before the next race, however, he accepted that he needed to reflect on his riding style.
Simoncelli was required to meet with race direction before the start of the racing weekend at Catalonia. On the track, Simoncelli secured his first MotoGP pole position, 0.016 seconds ahead of Casey Stoner. However, a poor start saw him drop to seventh managing only to recover one position to finish sixth. Simoncelli earned his first podium in the premier class, with a third place in the Czech Republic.
|source:wikipedia|