After winning the first Moto2 World Championship in history in 2010, Antonio “Toni” Elías Justícia participated in 105 MotoGP Grands Prix, and made himself definitively famous by winning the Portuguese Grand Prix on October 15, 2006 in Estoril beating Valentino Rossi of 0.002! He only won one, but in style.
Then the Spaniard took the US Championship by storm in 2016, winning the first three MotoAmerica Superbike races of his career on the all-new Suzuki GSX-R1000, and he hasn't wavered since. After finishing his rookie campaign in third place, Elias won the 2017 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship and went on to finish second in 2018 and 2019 for Team Yoshimura.
Then in December 2019, Yoshimura withdrew from the MotoAmerica Superbike series to be replaced by Team Hammer.
Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing stops after 40 years with Suzuki. “Yoshimura’s partnership with Suzuki has been instrumental to our core business over the past 41 years” said Don Sakakura, President of Yoshimura R&D. “As a team, we reached important milestones in racing. Personally, it has been a true privilege to work closely with Suzuki management and staff. The friendships I have developed will continue throughout my life. Notably, the engineering team at Suzuki's Japan headquarters has been extremely important to our successes over the years ". Yoshimura has won 14 AMA titles and 212 race victories with drivers such as Ben Spies, Mat Mladin, Wes Cooley and Toni Elias.
Elias now drives for Team Hammer: The 2020 season will mark Team Hammer's 40th consecutive year as a professional road racing team. Racing motorcycles built and operated by Team Hammer have won 83 AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National races, finished on the AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National podiums 234 times, and won seven AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National Championships, as well as two Southern Championships. -FIM Americans (in Superbike and Supersport). The team has also won 137 total endurance races (including seven 24-hour races) and 13 total WERA National Endurance Championships with Suzuki motorcycles, and holds the American record for mileage traveled in 24 hours of racing. The team also competed in the televised Formula USA national championship of the 1990s, racing the famous methanol-powered "Methanol Monster" GSX-R1100 Superbikes, and won four F-USA championships.
According to Toni Elias, “I’m happy to build something with Suzuki and Team Hammer. The goal is to continue to perform at the same high level, continue to win races, earn the podium and fight for the championship. »
“We have a lot of work to do because the competition will be strong, so we know we have to do a good job and give a good effort. We are very determined and I am happy to have this opportunity. »
“We are very pleased that Suzuki continues to support the MotoAmerica series,” said the President of MotoAmerica, Wayne Rainey. “Suzuki has been with us since the beginning and has continued to use our series to develop and sell its motorcycles. »
“Congratulations also to Team Hammer. This team has worked hard, been a benchmark in racing for a very long time and has shown its ability to win many championships. We know Suzuki will be in good hands on the racetracks in 2020 and beyond. »
Photos © Yoshimura, MotoAmerica, Team Hammer
