Toni Elias Debus On The RC212V - November 15th 2006

Toni Elias got his first chance to ride the new Honda RC212V today at Sepang but the test session was interrupted by heavy rain that fell on the Malaysian circuit from 1.00 p.m.

Despite the torrential rain, the Spanish rider of the Gresini Honda team felt at home on the new machine.

His team mate, Marco Melandri is not attending the test session as he is still recovering from the surgery at the left arm he had on November the 7th. Marco will be fit for next test session scheduled at Jerez (Spain) at the end of the month.

Toni Elias (2'05"02, 12 laps): "I'm happy of this first day even if I could make only a few laps because of the heavy rain. Everything is new for me, the bike, the set up and also tyres. In fact, for the first time today, we started working with Bridgestone tyres. I only got 12 laps on the bike but the first impression is very good: the RC212V is small, more agile than the old bike. In particular I like the riding position that is more like a 250 position on the bike than Motogp. It's too early to say anything definite about the new machine, I need to get as many laps practice on the bike as possible to see the direction we need to take. Both the team and I are very motivated, this a completely new start for us".