Elias had his moment of glory when he won the Portuguese Grand Prix in 2006 with a tiny lead of two thousandths of a second over Valentino Rossi. The race was superb, and Toni won his seventeenth World Championship race, after 2 in 125 cc, 3 in 7 and 250 in Moto7. He was crowned Moto2 World Champion in 2.
He has since moved to the United States, where he won the 2017 MotoAmerica national championship organized by Wayne Rainey and his associates, on a Yoshimura Suzuki.
During his world career, Elias was impressed by two drivers “ Manuel Poggiali was a very strong opponent, who won two World Championships. In 125 and 250, Manuel demonstrated his talent, then retired. Now he's out of our environment, but I know he's happy and that's what matters. But the best of all, in my opinion, is Valentino Rossi, who I beat in Portugal in 2006 with my Honda in MotoGP.
How is it different?
“In my opinion, Rossi is the best driver of all time. He is even stronger than Agostini and Nieto. Valentino is 38 years old, enormous determination and two balls that big. To beat Rossi you must attack him from start to finish, without giving him time to think. I actually did it in Portugal but it cost me immense effort.
“Marquez is the same as Rossi, Marc studied Valentino in every detail of his career, combining his winning DNA with what he learned from his predecessor, then beat him several times. The difference between Marquez and Rossi is age: the former is 24, the latter 38. Taking into account the passage of time and how difficult it is to stay on the crest of the wave, these 14 more years show us how strong Rossi is. He got angry when he saw Marquez copying him, because he was then the young man who had studied and learned to take the place of the champion.
Elias is not very motivated to cross the Atlantic again: “ In the United States, the driver maintains his commitment until the end and the team always pays its employees on time, which is not the case in Europe. This is why I am happy in America. But I admit that if Suzuki offered me to race in WSBK with an official bike and team, I would think about it: I am happy in the USA, but I miss my family and to carry out such a project, you need a team that has the desire, the seriousness and the money to manage the official GSX-Rs. Suzuki is at the level of Ducati and Kawasaki, and in WSBK can return to victory.
How does the future look?
“I have one more year of contract with Yoshimura, and I want to try to win the MotoAmerica title again. Afterwards I don't know what I'm going to do. My biggest wish would be to do a wild card GP on an official Suzuki MotoGP. I would be very happy about that, because in the higher class I have never raced for a factory team. »
Photo © Yoshimura Suzuki
Source: Gpone.com
