Toni Elías | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Elías at the 2010 Australian Grand Prix.
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Nationality | Spanish | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born |
Manresa, Spain |
26 March 1983 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Current team | Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bike number | 24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Antonio "Toni" Elías Justícia (born 26 March 1983) is a professional motorcycle racer and inaugural champion of the Moto2 World Championship. He is the third member of the Elías family to compete in motorcycle racing. He currently rides a Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the MotoAmerica AMA Superbike Championship and has 3 wins so far in the 2016 season.
Born in Manresa, Catalonia, 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, albeit his first, and so far only, win in the top category. 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.
After spending the 2008 season with the Alice Ducati team, Elias returned to Gresini Honda for 2009, replacing Shinya Nakano to ride alongside Alex de Angelis.
For 2010 he moved down to the new Moto2 class, on a Moriwaki bike for Gresini. He was competitive in pre-season testing before a heavy crash threatened to derail his status as title favourite. He was victorious at Le Mans after a chaotic race also led by Alex Debón and Jules Cluzel. He claimed the lead in the championship following this win, and would not relinquish it for the remainder of the season, clinching the inaugural Moto2 World Championship at the Malaysian Grand Prix with three rounds to spare.