San Carlo Honda Gresini Will Race in Valencia
Immediately following the tragic death of Marco Simoncelli, Fausto Gresini of the San Carlo Honda Gresini team was quoted saying that he wasn’t sure if his team could finish the Championship in Valencia without Simoncelli. With an outpouring of fans at Simoncelli’s funeral, and words of encouragement from around the world, the Italian team has decided that it will honor Marco’s memory and race in Spain this weekend.
While the #58 bike will sit in the pit box in memorial, Hiroshi Aoyama will ride the lone Honda RC212V for the Gresini team at the Valencian GP. Gresini’s Moto2 riders Michele Pirro and Yuki Takahashi will also race, as the trio will try to honor their teammate’s memory.
With a memorial of some kind expected at the Spanish track, it has been suggested by Marco’s father Paolo Simoncelli that the customary minute of silence be substituted with a minute of noise, with all the bikes in the GP paddock rev’d to life to honor the fallen Italian rider. Celebrating life instead of death, that idea seems like a fitting one to us.
“The decision to participate was not an easy one, but we have made this choice as it is what Marco would have wanted,” said Team Boss Fausto Gresini. “Going out on track at Valencia is definitely the best way to honour him by doing what he most loved to do: Ride and experience the world of MotoGP. This is why I believe that the best show of affection that we can make to Marco is by lining up our teams and riders for this race. ‘Super Sic’ will be present in the hearts of Hiroshi Aoyama, Michele Pirro and Yuki Takahashi, and I am sure that they will give him a most fitting tribute with their performances on Sunday.”
MotoGP race will be tough says Stoner
Newly-crowned MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner says the best way to honour the late Marco Simoncelli is to try to ensure a thrilling season-ending race at Valencia this Sunday.
Simoncelli died in a horrific accident at the Malaysian Grand Prix on October 23.
The Honda rider was regarded as one of the up-and-coming stars of the sport and a potential future rival for Stoner.
The Australian, who won his second world title when he captured his fifth straight Australian Grand Prix recently, is preparing for a tough weekend in Spain.
'It will be difficult to return to racing this weekend after Marco's terrible accident in Sepang, but I think it is the best thing we can do to honour him,' Stoner said.
'We know we all play a risky game and, even if compared to the past, the safety of our sport is much better. Unfortunately, these kind of events still occur.
'My thoughts go out to his family and I hope that they are coping through this period.'
Stoner has described the finale as the culmination of 'an incredible season for us'.
'We worked hard all year and, after clinching the title in Phillip Island, we are starting to look to 2012,' Stoner said.
'After the race here in Valencia, we will have the two-day test on the 1000cc machine and then we can take a well-deserved break and reflect on the ups and downs of a very long, hard season.
'We will go out there this weekend and try to put on a good show for all the fans and especially in memory of Marco.'
Simoncelli died when he lost control of his bike and veered across the path of American Colin Edwards and Italian Valentino Rossi on the second lap of the Malaysian race.
Edwards says there was nothing he could have done to avoid the contact.
'I have asked myself a thousand questions since the crash,' he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
'What might have happened if I had reacted differently? Could I have done anything else?
'But I've watched the footage again and I know there is absolutely nothing I could have done to avoid Marco,' Edwards said.
'And Valentino could do nothing either.
'It is hard to lose a friend. We lost a shining star. Marco was loved by all the supporters for his personality, his character, his charisma.'
0 comments: