Marco Simoncelli has rejected full responsibility for the crash with Dani Pedrosa at Le Mans and maintains that the ride-through penalty was unfair and his telemetry makes a strong case to explain it all away as a ‘racing incident’

Dani Pedrosa unsurprisingly sees the incident in a different light; here is what he had to say:

Dani Pedrosa:
“I was having a good race. The goal was to ensure another podium and I had it in my grasp. But it counts for nothing. Simoncelli overtook me, I passed him back and I had the better line, he just came into me releasing the brakes and I could do nothing. I leave here with a broken collarbone and he with a ride-through penalty, good for him! Yet again I come out worse off. We only just recovered from the nightmare of the last operation and now I’m hurt again. It is very unfair, I don’t deserve it.”

Marco Simoncelli
“I am unhappy about what happened, because a result that was within my reach was denied and above all because of the fact that Pedrosa is hurt. In my opinion the incident went like this: Pedrosa was having a bit of difficulty –I had pulled alongside him and passed him on the previous three laps. When he passed me back I was not intentionally trying to resist, and my telemetry shows that I got on the brakes at the same point as on previous laps. I think that he had hit the brakes well before the corner, and I found myself on the outside of him and in front on the entry to the corner. I didn’t want to back off, so I left him with a metre between myself and the kerb in order to go in. I saw that it was tight, so I tried to adjust my position. That was when he touched my back wheel and went down. I repeat that I am unhappy about it, and I want to avoid any controversy regarding penalisation, but I believe that my ride through was a result of all the talk over the past few days. Now I have to focus on Barcelona.”

Video of the crash between Dani Pedrosa and Marco Simoncelli:

Simoncelli-Pedrosa KO Le Mans 2011 by PlusMoto

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