On Saturday evening, for the second consecutive year the Buon Compleanno Sic (happy birthday) event took place to remember the late and still very much missed Marco Simoncelli who would have turned 26 on January 20th.
The event was organized by the Marco Simoncelli Foundation and held at the 105 Stadium in Rimini with all proceeds of the evening going to help the Foundation carry out their charity projects.
Almost 5000 people turned up for the event including friends like Mattia Pasini and Valentino Rossi.
The event also was used to present the new “Squadra Corse Sic 58” team that will see two young riders Kevin Sabatucci and Mattia Casadei race in the Italian PreGP championship (for 13 to 16-year olds) on Honda machines with San Carlo as their sponsor and Fausto Gresini supplying the technical support, but more importantly the team will be run by Paolo Simoncelli.
The initial idea of forming a racing team honouring Simoncelli’s name came from his former MotoGP crewchief Aligi Deganello (now with Aprilia in WSBK’s) and Aldo Drudi back in March 2012, who both thought that Paolo Simoncelli could really help in the formation of talented young riders.