Ten years ago today, MotoGP lost one of its biggest emerging stars when Italian racer Marco Simoncelli was tragically killed during the opening laps of the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.
A huge personality whose absence continues to be felt to this day and whose legacy continues to shape the sport in many way – from Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Academy (borne out of Rossi’s grief at the loss of his friend) to the successful SIC58 team run by his father Pablo, competing this weekend in Moto3 at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
But while his legacy might remain, reflecting on the tragedy a decade on begs the question: what would the future have held for Simoncelli had he not lost his life?
Only a few weeks before his crash in Malaysia, Simoncelli had announced his plans for the following year.
Remaining with the Gresini Honda team, he was set to receive a factory-spec RC213V in the satellite team; now a commonplace tactic for manufacturers to increase their talent pool, but at the time both a rarity and a sign of how seriously Honda was taking the 2008 250cc world champion’s talent.
And 2012 would likely have been a more competitive season for him not just because of his factory status. Always regarded as a wild rider and no stranger to race control appearances, there was plenty of animosity from his fellow riders towards the likeable Italian after a series of high profile crashes and incidents in his debut season and a half.
But already towards the end of 2011 he was starting to show signs of taming his own aggressiveness, with a stiff talking-to from race control following a Le Mans encounter with Dani Pedrosa that left the Spaniard with a broken collarbone finally being the sharp shock to the system that Simoncelli needed to change his approach to races.
MotoGP’s once-in-a-generation rule change for 2012 would also have played to Simoncelli’s strengths. Finally gone were the hated 800cc bikes, replaced with the faster but conversely easier to ride 1000cc machines that remain, essentially unchanged, to this day.
Introduced to reduce power and in theory make racing safer, the 800s were an ill-fated project that only served to make bikes revvier and to increase the severity of crashes by converting them from low-sides into high-sides, and the paddock was almost universally delighted to see the back of them – including Simoncelli.
One of the bigger riders on the grid at nearly six foot tall (185cm), his size was always working against him. But with the extra power of the new bikes, that disadvantage should finally have been reduced – and it’s hard to imagine it wouldn’t have brought more success for a rider already a semi-regular podium contender on the 800s.
“With the 800cc I am at a disadvantage with only 21 litres of petrol in the tank, because I am much heavier than my opponents,” he said ahead of his first test on the new bike just a few weeks before his crash in Malaysia.
“The higher torque of the 1000cc engine should help me in this regard. In some circuits like Losail in Qatar or Misano I really struggle and lose tenths of a second, because obviously if I am forced to travel leaner in terms of carburetion in order not to remain on foot, I can use less power. With the RC213V things will be different.”
It’s clear that there wasn’t a factory Honda team space for him in 2012, as Casey Stoner rocketed to the 2011 title and the Australian’s dramatic retirement announcement remained some months away – a decision that may have in part been influenced by Simoncelli’s death.
And even after Stoner’s departure, the rapidly rising star of young Moto2 sensation Marc Marquez means there might not necessarily have been a factory Honda space waiting for Simoncelli in the longer-term future either.
But that doesn’t mean that the route to full-factory status was out of his grasp.
Given the trajectory that he was on, and given what other riders who were arguably less talented than him went on to achieve, it’s hard to imagine that he wouldn’t have ended up on a factory machine for one team or another.
A partnership with Andrea Dovizioso at the then-rapidly improving factory Ducati team? Absolutely a possibility. Leading the way at Suzuki as it came back to racing after its recession-induced brief departure? Completely doable, especially with Davide Brivio at the helm.
And even today, on a grid where Simoncelli would now be the second-oldest rider only to his friend Rossi were he still with us, it’s entirely plausible to imagine him in a riding mentor role at Rossi’s own VR46 Ducati team.
Because the reality is, Marco Simoncelli wasn’t a huge fan favourite because of his results or his talent; he was beloved because of his infectious enthusiasm for life and massive love of riding motorbikes.
And just like Rossi, it’s hard to imagine him walking away from the sport before he stopped having fun, meaning that if it wasn’t for one tragic incident 10 years ago today there’s no doubt that we’d still be revelling in Marco’s antics.
