The remains of MotoGP's Marco Simoncelli has been flown back to Italy, with his casket accompanied by his father Paolo and fellow racer and friend Valentino Rossi on the same flight from Malaysia to Italy.

Simoncelli's body arrived at Fiumicino airport on Tuesday morning, welcomed by fans, who gathered in airport facilities to offer their last respects. An emotional applause from the crowd has overwhelmed Marco's father.

Speaking to his son's fans through reporters, the elder Simoncelli said, "I'm happy that you're here because the hardest moment will be Thursday night when everything's finished and we're left on our own."

A funeral service for Simoncelli has been scheduled for Thursday, beginning at 3 p.m. in the church of Santa Maria di Coriano. There will be a public viewing for his body on Wednesday, and then he will be buried in a cemetery near his hometown Riccione, according to MotoGP sources.

Simoncelli, 24, lost control of his Honda motorcycle on the second lap of the Sepang circuit race on Sunday's Malaysian MotoGP. He ran across the paths of Colin Edwards and Rossi on the track, causing him to fall off his bike with his helmet flying out. He suffered massive head trauma, which quickly resulted in his death.

Edwards' shoulder was dislocated, but has since been repaired, while Rossi was unharmed.

Rossi, 32, had said Sic (as he fondly called Marco) was like a "youngest brother" to him, and he will miss him a lot.

Paolo spoke of his son and the fans' support to AFP.

"Thank you to everyone and I'm not just saying that... To say that I'm delighted with the way the world has reacted would be stupid but we hadn't realized how important Marco was to people... He was special -- people understood he was honest. Marco was pure," he said.

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