Toni Elias Stays With The Honda Gresini Team - October 19th 2006

The Spaniard Toni Elias will continue to ride for the Gresini Honda Team in MotoGP next season having signed a one -year deal with Fausto Gresini.

After one season together, Fausto Gresini announced this morning the renewal of the contract with the 23 year-old Spanish rider who demonstrated, during the season, to be a determined rider. Last Sunday's achievement of his first Motogp win at Estoril, was once again the confirmation of Toni Elias' talent and strong potential.

Toni Elias will be Marco Melandri's team mate for the 2007 season, that sees MotoGP enters an exciting new era with the new 800cc rules coming into effect.

Fausto Gresini: "I'm very pleased to announce the renewal of the contract with Toni Elias for the 2007 season. We have always believed in his potential and we have supported him at the beginning of the year when he made his debut on the Honda RC211V and throughout the whole season. Last Sunday's win at Estoril confirms that Tony is a talented rider with a great potential and enthusiasm. We are happy to continue the project that will see him next year on a Honda V4 800cc. We are motivated to grow and reach together important results. Toni Elias will continue working with the same team, an experienced and motivated staff. I'm happy to line up two young but strong riders for the 2007 season".

Toni Elias: "I'm very happy to have reached this agreement. The renewal of the contract gives me the opportunity to continue the project started this year with Honda and Fausto Gresini. My priority was in fact to work with Honda in the team run by Fausto Gresini, together with my chief mechanic Fabrizio Cecchini. mIn order to take this decision, I have considered first of all the technical, sports and human factors. I believe this is the best choice for my sports career and I think we have all the elements to make a good preparation during the winter test sessions, in order to grow, gain experience and fight for good results. I'd like to finish the last race of the season with a good performance. But I really look forward to next year, I'm excited to ride the new Honda V4 800cc."