Toni Elías

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Toni Elias
Elias during testing at Sepang in 2007
Nationality	Spanish
Date of birth	March 26, 1983 (1983-03-26) (age 25)
Place of birth	Manresa, Spain
Website	tonielias.com
MotoGP Record
Current team	Alice Team
Bike number	24
World Championships	0
Race starts	127
Race Wins	10
Podium finishes	32
Pole positions	9
Fastest laps	10
Championship Points	1140
2008 Championship position	13th (24 pts) - In Progress

Toni Elias (born March 26, 1983) is a professional motorcycle racer. He is the third member of the Elías family to compete in motorcycle racing. He was born in Manresa, Spain.

Elías started racing in the 125cc World Championship in 2000 at the age of 17, finishing 3rd in 2001 and taking his first win in the Dutch TT at the prestigious Assen circuit. He went to 250s for 2002, finishing 4th that year, 3rd a year later, and 4th in 2004.

In 2005 he entered MotoGP for Fortuna Yamaha. In 2006 and 2007 his Fortuna backing has got him a ride for Gresini Honda alongside 2005 runner-up Marco Melandri. He only took one podium in 2006. After a podium in the first half of 2007 he crashed at Assen, breaking his leg, sabotaging his season. He managed to make a return to the podium at Motegi..

Contents 1 First MotoGP victory 2 Grand Prix career statistics [1] 2.1 By season 2.2 By class 2.3 Races by year 3 References 4 External links

[edit] First MotoGP victory

Elías won his first premier class race on October 15, 2006 with a fantastic final lap of the Portuguese MotoGP at Estoril. Elías had started the lap in third place, but an aggressive braking move into Curva 1, moved him past Valentino Rossi and the then-leader Kenny Roberts, Jr. into the lead. He actually clipped Roberts while braking, and this loss of momentum meant that Rossi passed Roberts for second position. These positions held until the chicane (turns 9 and 10) near the end of the lap. It looked like Elías had left the door wide open for Rossi and sure enough, the reigning world champion dived to the inside to pass the Spaniard. However, Elías would keep pressuring Rossi, trying to pass him on the run towards turns 11 and 12. Rossi had the line and kept the position, and it seemed as if Rossi would be 13 points clear of title rival Nicky Hayden going to the final round in Valencia. But Elías kept the speed up through the thirteenth and final turn, and tucked in behind Rossi, to draft him alongside the Italian. In a finish that needed a video replay, Elías was given the race by just 0.002 seconds. It was one of the closest finishes in the history of MotoGP, and a great way for Elías to secure his maiden premier class victory. This victory helped secure him a contract extension, which was doubtful prior to the win at Estoril, with Honda and Fausto Gresini for the 2007 Moto GP season.

As it turned out, Elías' victory cost Rossi five points, which was the exact number of points that Rossi would finish behind Hayden in the Championship standings.

[edit] Grand Prix career statistics ^[1]

[edit] By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
1999	125cc	Honda RS125	3	0	0	0	0	2	33rd
2000	125cc	Honda RS125	16	0	0	0	0	24	20th
2001	125cc	Honda RS125	16	2	9	4	1	217	3rd
2002	250cc	Aprilia RS250	16	1	5	0	1	178	4th
2003	250cc	Aprilia RS250	16	5	7	5	4	226	3rd
2004	250cc	Honda RS250	16	1	8	0	1	199	4th
2005	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR-M1	14	0	0	0	0	74	12th
2006	MotoGP	Honda RC211V	15	1	1	0	1	116	9th
2007	MotoGP	Honda RC212V	15	0	2	0	2	104	12th
Total			127	10	32	9	10	1140

[edit] By class

Class	Seas	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125 cc	1999-2001	1999 Spain	2001 France	2001 Dutch	35	2	9	4	1	243	0
250 cc	2002-2004	2002 Japan	2002 Dutch	2002 Pacific	48	7	20	5	6	603	0
MotoGP	2005-2007	2005 Spain	2006 Portugal	2006 Portugal	44	1	3	0	3	294	0
Total	1999-2007				127	10	32	9	10	1140	0

[edit] Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Yr	Class	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Final Pos	Pts
1999	125 cc	Honda	MAL	JPN	SPA 21	FRA	ITA	CAT Ret	NED	GBR	GER	CZE	SMR	VAL 14	AUS	SAF	BRA	ARG			33rd	2
2000	125 cc	Honda	SAF 23	MAL 17	JPN 17	SPA 16	FRA 17	ITA 15	CAT 8	NED Ret	GBR 14	GER Ret	CZE 14	POR 17	VAL 15	BRA 14	PAC 12	AUS 12			20th	24
2001	125 cc	Honda	JPN 16	SAF 18	SPA 13	FRA 3	ITA 4	CAT 2	NED 1	GBR 2	GER 2	CZE 1	POR 3	VAL 2	PAC Ret	AUS 3	MAL 6	BRA 4			3rd	217
2002	250 cc	Aprilia	JPN 11	SAF 16	SPA 10	FRA 6	ITA 4	CAT 10	NED 2	GBR 3	GER 6	CZE 3	POR 13	BRA 5	PAC 1	MAL 2	AUS 5	VAL 10			4th	178
2003	250 cc	Aprilia	JPN Ret	SAF 8	SPA 1	FRA 1	ITA 6	CAT 4	NED 13	GBR 4	GER 7	CZE 2	POR 1	BRA 18	PAC 1	MAL 1	AUS 11	VAL 2			3rd	226
2004	250 cc	Honda	SAF 8	SPA 12	FRA 3	ITA 6	CAT 3	NED 3	BRA 3	GER 22	GBR Ret	CZE 5	POR 1	JPN 2	QAT 6	MAL 3	AUS 5	VAL 2			4th	199
2005	MotoGP	Yamaha	SPA 12	POR 14	CHN 14	FRA 9	ITA Inj	CAT Inj	NED Inj	USA 13	GBR 9	GER 12	CZE 14	JPN 9	MAL 11	QAT 8	AUS 9	TUR 6	VAL 10		12th	74
2006	MotoGP	Honda	SPA 4	QAT 8	TUR 5	CHN 11	FRA 9	ITA 7	CAT Ret	NED Inj	GBR Inj	GER 11	USA 15	CZE 11	MAL Ret	AUS 9	JPN 6	POR 1	VAL 6		9th	116
2007	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 14	SPA 4	CHN 2	TUR Ret	FRA Ret	ITA 6	CAT Ret	GBR 12	NED Inj	GER Inj	USA Inj	CZE 11	SMR 7	POR 8	JPN 3	AUS 15	MAL 6	VAL 10	12th	104
2008	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT 14	SPA 15	POR 12	CHN 8	FRA 11	ITA 12	CAT -	GBR -	NED -	GER -	USA -	CZE -	SMR -	IND -	JPN -	AUS -	MAL -	VAL -	-	-

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• tonielias.com - Official site

v • d • e Teams and Riders competing in the 2008 MotoGP World Championship Ducati Marlboro Repsol Honda Rizla Suzuki Fiat Yamaha Honda Gresini Alice Team Kawasaki Racing Yamaha Tech 3 Honda LCR JiR Team Scot 1 Stoner 33 Melandri 2 Pedrosa 69 Hayden 7 Vermeulen 65 Capirossi 46 Rossi 48 Lorenzo 15 de Angelis 56 Nakano 24 Elías 50 Guintoli 13 West 21 Hopkins 5 Edwards 52 Toseland 14 de Puniet   4 Dovizioso

v • d • e Alice Team Toni Elías (24) | Sylvain Guintoli (50) Grand Prix motorcycle : Ducati Desmosedici GP8