Tony Elias

Toni Elias

PERSONAL DETAILS
NAME: TONI ELIAS
TEAM: ALICE TEAM
NATIONALITY: SPANISH
DATE OF BIRTH: 26/03/1983
MARRIED: SINGLE

On his day, Toni Elias is one of the fastest - and certainly one of the most exciting - MotoGP riders in the world, but he's yet to put together a full season of consistent performances and 2008 will see his third change of manufacturer in four years.

Elias is well-grounded in motorcycle racing, his grandfather was a road-racer and his dad was a ten times Spanish motocross champion as well as running a bike shop in Manresa, north-west of Barcelona. So there was some degree of inevitability about young Toni's eventual immersion in motorcycle racing.

Elias entered made his full time 125cc World Championship debut in 2000 with Honda, won two races during his second season, then moved swiftly into the 250cc class with Aprilia - and won a race during his debut season.

Toni's second quarter-litre season saw him win five races - more than any other rider - and he also scored five pole positions in a row at the back-end of the season. Had it not been for a last lap crash in Rio, while leading, he might well have been world champion that year, but instead he was ranked third.

Back on a Honda in 2004, he won in Portugal, but never recaptured the form he had shown the previous season. The seven rostrum finishes showed he was more than simply 'on the pace' but the frustration of seeing his fierce rival Dani Pedrosa cruise to the title weighed heavily on him.

After the relative disappointment of that 2004 season, it was easy for Yamaha to prise him away with the lure of a MotoGP ride, especially as Pedrosa was to remain in the quarter-litre class to defend his title.

Elias' aggressive style adapted quickly to the 990cc four-stroke but, in a pattern that was to be repeated in later seasons, Toni was sidelined by injury just as he was getting into his stride - although a sixth place at the penultimate round gave the MotoGP paddock a timely reminder of his talent.

Elias moved to Gresini Honda for 2006, where he was paired with Marco Melandri. Fourth in the season opener suggested it was to be Elias' breakthrough year, but he was still to climb the podium by the time he was injured at Assen just before the midpoint of the season.

Heading into the penultimate round at Portugal and Elias' MotoGP future looked in severe doubt. Toni had only broken the top ten twice since his return from injury six races ago and a new contract for 2007 looked unlikely...

...Until, that is, Elias rode the race of his life at Estoril - charging from 11th on the grid to pass Valentino Rossi for victory on the run to the chequered flag. With Honda's title hope Nicky Hayden taken out by team-mate Pedrosa early in the race, Elias had also deprived Rossi of points that would prove crucial to Hayden's eventual title success.

That ride saved Elias' career and he was duly re-signed by Gresini for 2007, but once again Toni's hopes were blighted by injury - this time a leg breaking accident, once again at Assen. Elias took one podium before the fall (elbowing an angry Rossi out of the way in the process) and then another after his comeback, during a year in which he and Melandri were the only satellite Honda riders to appear on the podium.

But this time it wasn't enough to keep his seat and Elias has been 're-homed' at the satellite d'Antin Ducati team, backed by new title sponsor Alice, for 2008. Elias and his fans will hope that the powerful Desmosedici will suit his style and that he can finally remain injury free.

Elias confident of top-class Honda treatment
Friday, 21 November 2008

Fresh from surgery, Gresini satellite rider expects high level of factory support in 2009.


Returning to San Carlo Honda Gresini after a year with the Alice Team, Toni Elias is expecting big things from 2009. The `prodigal son´ of the Honda family will, in line with the famous parable, be receiving preferential treatment from the Japanese factory, stating that he will be supported in a similar manner to that of Sete Gibernau in his title-contending seasons with the team.

`San Carlo Honda Gresini is a satellite team, but I have been told by the bosses that we will have same support as Gibernau in his day; a near-factory bike,´ says the Spaniard on the promises made for his second stint with Fausto Gresini´s outfit.

`We will see how things go, but I think that they will be a lot more straightforward than last year.´

If Elias is expecting a regular influx of the latest parts, then it will be in direct contrast to what he says was the case during his time with Ducati. The Spaniard pulled no punches in criticising the support given in 2008, lending an insight into the level of material he had available at various points in the year.

`We´d asked for new parts in Le Mans this year, and they didn´t arrive until the race at Sachsenring. Until then we were just fighting not to finish last,´ he says. `When we finally received them we made a leap in performance, and we got back in the top ten, so for me Germany is when the second part of the season began.´

Two podiums followed as a result, but that wasn´t the end of the story for Elias. Seemingly on his way out of the Alice Team –and not by his own wanting- the rostrums led to an offer of a new contract. After choosing a Honda return, the 25 year-old claims that the stream of updates dried up.

`I told Ducati what my plans were for 2009 in Motegi, and from that moment on the parts disappeared,´ he laments. `From then on it was back to the lower half of the standings.´

Elias´ year will end with surgery the day after next week´s test in Jerez, in order to remove a screw placed in his leg after his 2007 Assen horror-crash. Before the operation, he will ride for the last time in 2008 with the Honda RC212V.

`The screw needed to be in place for this long for the bone to completely solidify. It´s now time to take it out. It bothered me a little in the final races, but we decided not to have the operation earlier because of the shortened testing calendar. I will be able to recover during December,´ he explains.

`Jerez will be an important test, even without the bike that I will ride in 2009. We will have the satellite bike and Bridgestone tyres to work with over the two days.´

MotoGP » Elias critical of Ducati support.
Saturday, 22nd November 2008

Toni Elias reveals lack of technical support from Ducati during 2008 MotoGP season - will have 'near factory' Honda in 2009.

The 2008 MotoGP season looks to have been the first and last on a Ducati for Toni Elias, after the Spaniard criticised the lack of technical support he received this season.

Elias, riding alongside Sylvain Guintoli at the satellite Alice Team, only finished in the top ten once (eighth) during the opening four rounds, and couldn't qualify higher than 14th.

Toni claims the parts needed to improve the situation were requested at the following French Grand Prix - but took until round ten, in Germany, to arrive.

"We'd asked for new parts in Le Mans this year, and they didn't arrive until the race at Sachsenring. Until then we were just fighting not to finish last," the official MotoGP website quotes Elias as saying.

"When we finally received them we made a leap in performance, and we got back in the top ten, so for me Germany is when the second part of the season began."

Rain on race day left Elias twelfth in Germany, while team-mate Guintoli took his best result of the year (sixth without traction control). Elias was looking much more competitive in the following US Grand Prix - rising to sixth place by lap five - until a mistake dropped him back down the order.

The #24 made no such errors in Brno and, while Ducati's reigning world champion Casey Stoner crashed out of the lead, Elias claimed second position behind Valentino Rossi.

Elias backed that up with third position next time out at Misano, making him the only Ducati rider other than Stoner to finish on the podium all season - and the first satellite Ducati rider ever to take two podium finishes.

Despite those results, Toni's subsequent decision not to remain at Alice for 2009 saw the technical support 'disappear'.

"I told Ducati what my plans were for 2009 in Motegi, and from that moment on the parts disappeared," he said. "From then on it was back to the lower half of the standings."

Elias finished 16th, 11th, 15th and 18th in the four races after Japan.

Elias had agreed a return to Honda Gresini, for whom he rode in 2006 and 2007 - when he took his first and so far only MotoGP race win in spectacularly style at Estoril.

The standout feature of the 2009 deal is a 'factory bike', although Honda has been known to have several different specifications of 'factory' machine - even within its official Repsol team.

Elias describes his 2009 machinery as a "near factory bike" and will have the level of support given to former Gresini rider Sete Gibernau, who finished title runner-up in 2003 and 2004.

"San Carlo Honda Gresini is a satellite team, but I have been told by the bosses that we will have same support as Gibernau in his day; a near-factory bike," said Elias.

That seems to confirm that Elias will have a pneumatic-valve '09 RC212V, rather than a 'factory' valve-spring machine as used late in the year by 2008 Gresini rider Shinya Nakano.

Either way, Elias expects much greater technical support than he had this season.

"We will see how things go, but I think that they will be a lot more straightforward than last year," the Spaniard declared.

Elias - who joined MotoGP in 2005 and has now ridden for Yamaha, Honda and Ducati - has never before raced with 'factory' machinery in the premier-class.

Elias will use a 2008 satellite bike during the final test of the year, at Jerez next week.

MotoGP » Elias 'fast and comfortable'.
Thursday, 27th November 2008

Toni Elias rises from eighth to fourth on final day of Jerez test.

Toni Elias will head for his winter holiday a happy man after making substantial progress during the second and final day of the Jerez test.

After a season on a satellite Ducati, Elias returns to Honda Gresini as a factory supported RCV rider for 2009, although the Spaniard - like team-mate Alex de Angelis - has been using an ex-Shinya Nakano valve-spring '08 factory machine for post-season testing.

Having been eighth fastest on day one of the Spanish test, Elias improved by 1.231sec on day two to claim fourth position out of the 14 riders with a best lap just over one-second from Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa, but just 0.022sec from third fastest Jorge Lorenzo.

Elias will made his debut on a 2009 (pneumatic) factory Honda during the first test of next year, at Sepang from February 5-7.

"I'm very happy to be back in the Gresini team and back on a Honda," said Toni. "We started out yesterday working step by step because I want to work in a calm, logical manner to avoid mistakes. We worked mostly on the rear end, because I have had some traction problems. We tested some different set-up solutions, focusing on adapting the bike to the new Bridgestone tyres.

"I'm happy because today we found a good compromise between bike set-up and the tyres and I also has a better feeling with the rear tyre. My lap times were faster and I felt more comfortable. Of course, we need to keep working but I think we did a very good job here, preparing for the Sepang tests when we will get the bike that we will use during the 2009 season," he added.

2008 rookie de Angelis was also impressive, improving his best lap time by almost one second to finish the test 0.038sec and one place behind Elias.

"It was a very important test session. We worked mainly on the set-up, studying the behaviour of the new Bridgestone tyres. With the new tyre regulation it's very important to adapt the bike to the tyres and not vice versa as was the case before," said the San Marinese of the new single tyre rule. "Of course, we will keep working on the settings to find the best set-up that will allow us to get the maximum out of the bike."

Although de Angelis will remain a satellite rider next season, it seems that the customer spec RC212Vs may now get pneumatic-valve engines next year after all. Either way, de Angelis has already felt a clear improvement with the ex-Nakano bike.

"I have to say that the first impressions are positive. I like this bike - both the engine and the chassis are better, so I have a better feeling than with the bike I used last season," he said. "This bike is also better for my size. Today we made a big step forward. We worked on chassis geometry and I could go quite fast, ending up very close to the third fastest guy.

"Since Valencia I'm working with a new crew chief - Antonio Jimenez, who worked with Nakano last year - and I'm very happy with this new arrangement," concluded Alex, who took a best finish of fourth this year.

Elias has surgery to remove screw from femur
Wednesday, 03 December 2008

On Wednesday in Barcelona Toni Elias became latest premier class rider to go under the knife, the popular Catalan having an operation on the femur bone he smashed in 2007.


San Carlo Honda Gresini´s Toni Elias underwent surgery at the Institut Dexeus de Barcelona on Wednesday to remove a screw from the femur he broke at Assen last year and is expected to be released from hospital within 24 hours.

The operation was carried out without complication by Dr. Ignacio Ginebreda, who earlier this week also performed surgery on Ducati rider Sete Gibernau.

Elias is being kept in overnight merely for observation and told motogp.com, `Everything has gone well and I should be able to go home tomorrow. From Friday or Monday I should already be able to start doing some rehab exercises.´

Like a number of other premier class riders, such as Gibernau, Casey Stoner, and John Hopkins, Elias has waited until the winter for a suitable window in which to go under the surgeon´s knife and will now have until February 2009 to get ready for the first test of the New Year, in Sepang (Malaysia) early that month.

My my a lot of them seem to being going under the knife over the winter break, Casey, Randy, Sete and now Tiger Tony!
Who's next?
Maybe Randy again for a P***s enlargement

So so sorry Tam, couldnt resist lol!!!!!

But just think of the benefits Tam, it would be soooooooo worth it lol

Paddock Press: Aguilar on Elias´ 2008 season
Wednesday, 17 December 2008

Spanish press review of Toni Elias´ `up and down´ campaign


Catalunya Radio´s Damia Aguilar is the latest journalist to take part in the Paddock Press series, reviewing Toni Elias´ year in Ducati. As well as his thoughts on 2008, Aguilar also builds up expectations for 2009 in the accompanying video.

`Toni is perhaps a rider with ups and downs, who´s the kind who struggles with the bike until he gets it right -and he gets it perfect, we saw in Germany what he could do when he received new parts from Ducati,´ says the Spanish journalist.

`Being Honda´s third factory rider is very important for him, and it means that next season will really be `his´ season, `his´ big chance -he will have to demonstrate what he´s really able to do. 2009 should be his big break because of the bike he will receive.´

The man whom Elias replaces in San Carlo Honda Gresini, Shinya Nakano, has his season reviewed in today´s Paddock Press double bill.

Toni Elias
PERSONAL DETAILS
NAME: TONI ELIAS
TEAM: ALICE TEAM
NATIONALITY: SPANISH
DATE OF BIRTH: 26/03/1983
MARRIED: SINGLE



On his day, Toni Elias is one of the fastest - and certainly one of the most exciting - MotoGP riders in the world, but he's yet to put together a full season of consistent performances and 2008 will see his third change of manufacturer in four years.

Elias is well-grounded in motorcycle racing, his grandfather was a road-racer and his dad was a ten times Spanish motocross champion as well as running a bike shop in Manresa, north-west of Barcelona. So there was some degree of inevitability about young Toni's eventual immersion in motorcycle racing.

Elias entered made his full time 125cc World Championship debut in 2000 with Honda, won two races during his second season, then moved swiftly into the 250cc class with Aprilia - and won a race during his debut season.

Toni's second quarter-litre season saw him win five races - more than any other rider - and he also scored five pole positions in a row at the back-end of the season. Had it not been for a last lap crash in Rio, while leading, he might well have been world champion that year, but instead he was ranked third.

Back on a Honda in 2004, he won in Portugal, but never recaptured the form he had shown the previous season. The seven rostrum finishes showed he was more than simply 'on the pace' but the frustration of seeing his fierce rival Dani Pedrosa cruise to the title weighed heavily on him.

After the relative disappointment of that 2004 season, it was easy for Yamaha to prise him away with the lure of a MotoGP ride, especially as Pedrosa was to remain in the quarter-litre class to defend his title.

Elias' aggressive style adapted quickly to the 990cc four-stroke but, in a pattern that was to be repeated in later seasons, Toni was sidelined by injury just as he was getting into his stride - although a sixth place at the penultimate round gave the MotoGP paddock a timely reminder of his talent.

Elias moved to Gresini Honda for 2006, where he was paired with Marco Melandri. Fourth in the season opener suggested it was to be Elias' breakthrough year, but he was still to climb the podium by the time he was injured at Assen just before the midpoint of the season.

Heading into the penultimate round at Portugal and Elias' MotoGP future looked in severe doubt. Toni had only broken the top ten twice since his return from injury six races ago and a new contract for 2007 looked unlikely...

...Until, that is, Elias rode the race of his life at Estoril - charging from 11th on the grid to pass Valentino Rossi for victory on the run to the chequered flag. With Honda's title hope Nicky Hayden taken out by team-mate Pedrosa early in the race, Elias had also deprived Rossi of points that would prove crucial to Hayden's eventual title success.

That ride saved Elias' career and he was duly re-signed by Gresini for 2007, but once again Toni's hopes were blighted by injury - this time a leg breaking accident, once again at Assen. Elias took one podium before the fall (elbowing an angry Rossi out of the way in the process) and then another after his comeback, during a year in which he and Melandri were the only satellite Honda riders to appear on the podium.

But this time it wasn't enough to keep his seat and Elias has been 're-homed' at the satellite d'Antin Ducati team, backed by new title sponsor Alice, for 2008. Elias and his fans will hope that the powerful Desmosedici will suit his style and that he can finally remain injury free.


Career Highlights:

1992 : 1st Manresa Pocketbike Cup
1993 : 3rd Catalan Pocketbike Championship
1994 : 2nd Catalan Pocketbike Championship
1995 : 10th Catalan Scooter Championship
1996 : 4th Catalan Scooter Championship
1997 : 1st ScooterMania Cup
1998 : 23rd 125 Spanish Championship Honda
1999 : 3rd 125 Spanish Championship Honda
2000 : 20th 125 World Championship Honda
2001 : 3rd 125 World Championship Honda - race wins 2
2002 : 4th 250 World Championship Aprilia - race wins 1
2003 : 3rd 250 World Championship Aprilia - race wins 5
2004 : 4th 250cc World Championship Honda - race wins 1
2005 : 12th MotoGP World Championship Yamaha.
2006 : 9th MotoGP World Championship Honda - race wins 1.
2007: 12th MotoGP World Championship Honda.

END OF 2007.
STARTS: N/A
WINS: 10 (1 - MOTOGP, 7 - 250CC, 2 - 125CC)
POLES: 9 (5 - 250CC, 4 - 125CC)
FASTEST LAPS: 10 (3 - MOTOGP, 6 - 250CC, 1 - 125CC)
POINTS: N/A
DEBUT: MOTOGP DEBUT IN 2005.
DRIVEN FOR: ALICE TEAM (2008) / GRESINI HONDA (2007) / FORTUNA HONDA (2006) / FORTUNA YAMAHA (2005)