The 2011 Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix was the seventeenth round of the

2011 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season The 2011 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 63rd F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season. The 2011 season was also the final season for 800cc engines in MotoGP, and also for 125cc machinery, as both MotoGP switched back to 1000cc e ...

. It took place on the weekend of 21–23 October 2011 at the

Sepang International Circuit Sepang International Circuit () (known as Petronas Sepang International Circuit for commercial reasons) is a motorsport race track in Sepang District, Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. It is located approximately south of Kuala Lumpur, close to Ku ...

, but the MotoGP race was red-flagged and subsequently cancelled after two laps due to a serious accident involving

Marco Simoncelli Marco Simoncelli (; 20 January 198723 October 2011), nicknamed Sic (), was an Italian professional Motorcycle racing, motorcycle racer. He competed in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing, MotoGP World Championship for 10 years from 2002 to 2011. He ...

. Simoncelli fell while running fourth, his bike and body veering across the path of

Colin Edwards Colin Edwards II (born February 27, 1974), nicknamed the "Texas Tornado", is an American former professional Motorcycle sport, motorcycle racer who retired half-way through the 2014 season. He is a two-time List of Superbike World champions, Wo ...

and

Valentino Rossi Valentino Rossi ( ; ; born 16 February 1979) is an Italian racing driver, former professional motorcycle road racer and nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. Nicknamed "the Doctor", Rossi is widely considered one of the greate ...

. Simoncelli was fatally struck in the head and chest by the two bikes. He was taken straight to the circuit's medical centre, but died of his injuries shortly thereafter.

MotoGP classification

After qualifying, the

Repsol Honda Honda HRC Castrol is the official factory team of the Honda Racing Corporation in the MotoGP class of Grand Prix motorcycle racing (World Championship road racing), formally backed by principal sponsor Repsol for 30 years until the end of 2024 ...

team locked out the front row of the grid. At the start of the twenty lap race,

Casey Stoner Casey Joel Stoner (born 16 October 1985) is an Australian retired professional motorcycle racer, and a two-time MotoGP World Champion, in and . During his MotoGP career, Stoner raced for the factory teams of Ducati and Honda, winning a tit ...

took the led from

Dani Pedrosa Daniel Pedrosa Ramal (born 29 September 1985) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Grand Prix motorcycle racer who retired from regular competition after the season. He grew up in Castellar del Vallès, a village near Sabadell. He is a ...

and

Andrea Dovizioso Andrea Dovizioso (born 23 March 1986) is an Italian former professional motorcycle racer. He raced with RNF Racing, WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team for the 2022 MotoGP World Championship, 2022 season but announced his intended-retirement after the ...

, in a

Gresini Racing Gresini Racing is a motorcycle racing team competing in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing, MotoGP World Championship under the name Gresini Racing MotoGP as a Ducati satellite team, in the Moto2 World Championship as Italjet Gresini Racing Moto2, ...

Honda, was fourth.

Lap 2 incident

Exiting the right-handed wide Turn 11 on the second lap, Simoncelli loses traction in the front wheels into a "low-side" and veered into the path of Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi, both of whom made contact with the fallen rider on their motorcycles. His helmet was separated from the rider as part of the impact from the incident. The race was immediately stopped. Edwards suffered a separated shoulder. Officials planned a 16.30 restart (meaning the procedure started for a restart at 16.50), with rules calling for a completely new twenty lap race scheduled with the remaining riders as three full laps had not been completed, which is required for an official race. Because of the seriousness of Simoncelli's situation, the 20-minute restart procedure was indefinitely delayed. MotoGP medical director Michele Macchiagodena stated to the media Simoncelli suffered cardiac arrest whilst in the ambulance. He noted, "Immediately in the Medical Centre, with the help also of the Doctor of our staff at the Clinica Mobile and local Doctors, he was intubated and it was possible to take off some blood from the thorax. The CPR was continued for 45 minutes because we tried to help him for as long as we thought it was possible. Unfortunately it was not possible to help him and at 16.56 we had to declare he was dead." The race was completely abandoned as a non-event because only one lap was completed. No race winner was declared nor were points offered. The announcement of cancellation was made on timing monitors and the broadcast by Dorna and the Sepang International Circuit. Video evidence showed spectators trashed the circuit after the cancellation was announced, not understanding the fatal crash.

Moto2 classification

The race was stopped after 17 laps due to an accident involving Axel Pons.

125 cc classification

Notes

References

{{MotoGP 2010–19 Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Motorcycle Grand Prix

Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix The Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix is a motorcycling event that is part of the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. The event is due to take place at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit until at least 2024. History The first Mala ...

Motorcycle racing controversies