Benefit auction for Valentino Rossi #thisforSIC58 Mugello suit begins

The actual Dainese leather racing suit worn by nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi during the Mugello MotoGP to honor his late friend Marco Simoncelli is now up for auction on eBay, starting at 8:00am EST today. A fully equipped Dainese D-Air leather racing suit adorned with the hashtag #thisforSIC58 on the back, the suit was Rossi's own particular way of showing support for his friend Marco Simoncelli, the former 250cc Grand Prix world champion who was tragically killed during the Sepang MotoGP race in 2011. The eBay auction can be directly accessed through the Dainese website www.dainese.com.

Proceeds from the sale of the suit will go directly through the Marco Simoncelli Foundation—a non-profit organization created by Simoncelli’s father Paolo for supporting and promoting humanitarian projects to benefit the disadvantaged—to help the Santa Marta Project, a day center for disabled people that the organization is building near Coriano, Simoncelli’s hometown.

The lucky winning bidder of the Dainese suit will receive the authentic suit autographed by Rossi and delivered to the place of his/her choosing in a special display case.

The #thisforSIC58 is the official hashtag created by Dainese to commemorate Marco Simoncelli and to promote the projects of solidarity and cooperation that the Marco Simoncelli Foundation is supporting. The actual Valentino Rossi suit is just one out of many Dainese products worn by World Championship riders that will soon be offered up for auction in a dedicated section on the new redesigned dainese.com website. Beginning with the Rossi leather suit, Dainese is planning on auctioning an original Dainese product worn by one of the motorcycle World Championship riders every week, with all proceeds going to the Santa Marta Project.