page_title: Marco Simoncelli
section_title: 250cc World Championship
hierarchical_section_title: Marco Simoncelli / Career / 250cc World Championship
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Marco Simoncelli a Donington Park nel 2009.
context_page_description: Marco Simoncelli 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. Simoncelli died in an accident during the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang on 23 October 2011 after being run over following his own fall on track.
context_section_description: In 2006, Simoncelli stepped up to the 250cc class, becoming the only rider from the top eight in previous year's 125cc class to make the step up. He joined the Metis Gilera team, an Italian motorcycle manufacturer who returned to the intermediate class after a lengthy absence. His first season saw him finish 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, finishing 10th overall.
  In 2007 he continued with the same team. His season was similar to the previous one and he was again 10th in the final standings, without a podium finish.
  He had his first 250cc win at the Italian Grand Prix 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 Héctor Barberá. Barberá then crashed into him and Simoncelli won the race by 3 seconds. Barberá 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 Catalan Grand Prix after overtaking Álvaro Bautista on the last lap after Bautista ran wide with 5 corners of the race left. Simoncelli obtained his third 250cc GP victory at the Sachsenring in the German Grand Prix on 13 July 2008 when he beat Bautista and Barberá by approximately 2.5 seconds. He also won in his class at the 2008 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix held on 3–5 October 2008, narrowly defeating Bautista.
  On 19 October 2008 he won the 2008 250cc World Championship after finishing 3rd in the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.
caption: Simoncelli at the 2009 British Grand Prix at Donington Park
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