Rare are the riders who have left such an imprint on the motorcycle Grands Prix. Eleven years following his death, the memory of Marco Simoncelli remains particularly strong, often cited as a model by pilots of the new generation and symbol of very active humanitarian operations. Motorsport.com caught up with Paolo Simoncelli to find out how he views this powerful legacy.
Anyone who has visited a MotoGP paddock in recent years, and even very recently, cannot have escaped the very strong presence of Marco Simoncelli from corner to corner of the aisles. More than 11 years have passed since the death of the man who, at 24, seemed poised to shake up the established order. The terrible accident he suffered during the Malaysian Grand Prix, when the season of his first podiums was coming to an end, brutally stopped the rise of a driver with an unorthodox attitude, no doubt made more endearing once more thanks to her authenticity and cheerful personality.
How to explain that following all this time, his number 58 and nickname, “Sic”, entered into legend, appear on so many trucks and scooters in the aisles of the paddock? That spectators continue to wear his symbols, thanks to a merchandising whose success is undeniable, and that he is still cited as an example by young current drivers?
To understand him better, we wanted to get his father’s opinion, and it was a Paolo Simoncelli posing as a spectator of this affection that MotoGP has kept for his son who kindly answered our questions. The powerful handshake, the penetrating gaze, the strong voice, he is certainly happy to talk regarding Marco and proud of the mark he has left.
“Why did he leave such a mark? Maybe it’s up to you to tell me because I was his father… But indeed, he left an incredible mark, and then all over the world in addition”, he observes. “A lot of young people died in sport, in motorcycling, a lot of famous people, but some left something more. What is it due to? Me, what I’m saying is that my son was a normal person. Maybe his normality or his simplicity marked, the fact that for good or bad, he was always sincere and always said what he thought.”
Marco Simoncelli takes on Jorge Lorenzo at the 2011 Aragon GP
In a few years of career and a far too short life, the general public has, it seems, been able to understand who this young pilot with an atypical physique and more than approximate English really was, because he was someone a real one, without pretense. “He was as we saw him”, guarantees us his father. Paolo, now the boss of a Moto3 team, knows very well that for everyone there remains “Simoncelli’s father” and signs of affection are not lacking on a daily basis. When he walks the paths of the paddock himself, it is not “only pictures, clenched hands and taps on the shoulder”. MotoGP constantly reminds her of her sense of solidarity, as if, with regard to her, she had been fueled forever by the events of this October 23, 2011. It might have stopped with the withdrawal of #58 from the competition or at the Ranch that Valentino Rossi set up in his memory, he who had started to share his training with the young Marco. But the scale of the mark left by the former Gresini rider goes far beyond one-day tributes.
“What strikes me the most, in absolute terms, is when I meet parents with young children, who have not known Marco but who have heard of him”, he continues. “That’s how the legend is born, with parents or grandparents who tell children or grandchildren regarding this boy who never admitted defeat.” His abnegation is surely a character trait that did not go unnoticed by Marco Simoncelli. “Until they were over, you never knew how the races were going to end and that is surely a memory that Marco left behind”, remembers Paolo. “People were glued to the TV because he was bound to do something to gain position, he was not satisfied with a second, third or last place.
“Something that he left in the young people and the people who followed him, in my opinion, was that he was pursuing his goal. He had a goal, which was to become World Champion, and he was chasing it to his whole being. His mother and I always say that we would do everything the same way, even knowing that it was going to end like this, because he was happy. Marco was happy”, he insists, “And that, no one can take that away from us. We’ve had 24 very good years. The rest is fate.”
Marco Bezzecchi received the Rookie of the Year award from Paolo Simoncelli last November
What may also have contributed to maintaining the memory of Marco is that Paolo Simoncelli, assuming his distress as an orphan father and the life which, despite everything, continues, remained in the paddock in plain sight. Today, he awards the MotoGP Rookie of the Year Marco Simoncelli Award each year to the best rookie in the premier class. As for the young pilots who join the SIC58 team, they cannot escape this heritage and it is under the gentle gaze of the man who is no longer, whose portrait is displayed everywhere, that they learn the trade and develop.
“They’re all respectful to him. I see that… We’ve been here for a number of years and I believe we’ve been working well, as a team we’ve shown we’re legit,” tells us Paolo Simoncelli, he who celebrated such a moving first world victory in 2019. “But this ‘brand’ attracts more than anything else, it opens all doors. If you need something, when you see this name and this brand everything is easier…” The voice of Paolo Simoncelli is low, as if resigned, he who has long been able to accept the reality of life that has taken shape since 2011. An active life, but in which an immense void inevitably remains impossible to fill.
A foundation, a hospital and a center for autism
If we step out of the microcosm of MotoGP, we can see to what extent the legacy left by Marco Simoncelli goes well beyond the simple popularity of a pilot who would not have denied himself. A museum is now dedicated to him, recalling the career of the man who won the 250cc championship in 2008, but above all there are several large-scale charitable operations in his name.
First there is a foundation, created at the instigation of his manager Carlo Pernat immediately following his death. “I have to be sincere, I didn’t even know what a foundation was, but in just two months it was launched and we were buried in donations, people were sending money continuously”, remembers Paolo Simoncelli bringing back his memories of this painful end of the year 2011. There, he understood the impact left by his son, as soon as he saw the thousand people waiting for the plane bringing back his body to Italy following the accident, or the 25,000 people who filed past the coffin on display in the Coriano theater in the October rain. “Little by little, I began to understand all that this boy had left behind.”
The Maison Marco Simoncelli center for the disabled inaugurated in 2019
Since then, the actions undertaken have made it possible to build on this bereavement the foundations of a legacy that the Simoncelli family wanted to turn towards others. “We have done some very beautiful things. The most beautiful in absolute terms, the one of which I am enthusiastic and very proud, is the center for young people with disabilities that we did in Coriano. It’s an intuition that I had and the donations allowed me to do it. There are apartments, games rooms, a swimming pool, a gym, a garden of almost one hectare which we are in the process of finishing. I didn’t expect it to turn out so beautiful but it really is a masterpiece.”
“We also set up a small hospital in Santo Domingo. And we have just opened a center for young people with autism. We met a group of parents who have autistic children, they had a project and mightn’t do it move forward, so we teamed up and finished it.” Here once more, the deal is simple: a Marco Simoncelli overflowing with joy appears on the facade of the center. Paolo, on the other hand, refuses to derive the slightest personal benefit from all this, simply striving to be an attentive guarantor of his son’s image.
One last time, Paolo Simoncelli plunges his gaze into ours. “It is surely not for what we do that we remember him”, he points out, “but for what he did. Then we helped do good with the money we were given. And it’s very hard to spend other people’s money, by the way, but I do what I think is right.” As a father, Paolo has only one need, that of believing that there is an followinglife and that he will be able to find his son. The rest is the memory of an eternally young boy, overflowing with life, and a promising pilot who continues to sometimes appease, sometimes make others dream.
The Marco Simoncelli Foundation
