Marco Simoncelli, Italian motorcycle racer (b. 1987)

Marco Simoncelli (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmarko simonˈtʃɛlli];

20 January 1987 – 23 October 2011), nicknamed Sic (Italian: [ˈsitʃ]), was an Italian professional motorcycle racer. He competed in the MotoGP World Championship for 10 years from 2002 to 2011. He started in the 125cc class before moving up to the 250cc class in 2006. He won the 2008 250cc World Championship with Gilera. After four years in the intermediate class, he stepped up to the top MotoGP class in 2010, racing with the Honda Gresini Team. He died in an accident at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.